Obninsk

I'm acting like a celebrity here. What was I thinking? Anyway, Marina is on my left.

Long time ago, when I was working at the Institute of Nuclear Research in Poland, I was sent by pure accident to a conference in Obninsk, Russia. (For those who don't know it, the first nuclear power plant in the world for the large-scale production of electricity opened in Obninsk in 1954.) This conference was only for Russians, obvieusly my absent-minded boss did not read the small letters. The scientists in Obninsk were very surprised when I arrived, but they let me participate in the conference which lasted the whole week. The first sessions started with a welcome "Comrades and Ms. Monika". Then one of a young women, a mathematician named Marina, requested that the session start with "Comrades, Ms. Monika and Ms. Marina". Soon everybody wanted to be called a Mr. or a Ms.  instead of a Comrade. Finally, the political commissar, the so-called politruk, who never smiled and who - I suspected - was there mainly because of me, became really concerned. This looked like a counter-revolution to him, pure and simple.  He had to act. So he took those witty physicists and mathematicians aside and had serious conversation with them. Then the sessions were continued as if nothing had happened.They started as before - with "Comrades and Ms. Monika". 

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From Wikipedia:
The history of Obninsk began in 1945 when the First Research Institute Laboratory "V", which later became known as IPPE was founded. On June 27, 1954, in Obninsk started operations of the world's first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid. The city was built next to the plant in order to support it. Scientists, engineers, construction workers, teachers and other professionals moved to Obninsk from all over the Soviet Union. Town status was granted to Obninsk on June 24, 1956. The name of the city is taken from Obninskoye, the train station in Moscow-Bryansk railroad, built in Tsarist times.