EX-SOVIET NUCLEAR BASE HOME TO DRUG ADDICTS

KHMELNITSKY, Ukraine, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Drug addicts tending pigs and
chickens at a top secret Soviet nuclear missile base - - the very idea
would have had Cold War generals packing their bags for Siberia.

Yet that pastoral scene has become a reality at the former base of the Red
Army's Fifth Strategic Missile Regiment, hidden away among the hills and
barren fields of western Ukraine.

Soviet troops pulled out from Khmelnitsky after the Union collapsed in
1991. Now only a crumbling concrete obelisk screaming "Glory to the Soviet
Strategic Missile Forces!" stands as a reminder that here nuclear
apocalypse was once just the touch of a button away.

A nearby silo housing one of 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles
originally stationed in Ukraine was blown up early last year in line with
the U.S.-Soviet START arms reduction treaty. Ukraine has handed over all
its rockets to Russia.

But despite the Soviet military retreat, well-worn khaki uniforms are still
much in evidence at Khmelnitsky. They are regulation issue for the 15 or so
hardened drug addicts undergoing a rehabilitation course at the base.

And like the soldiers who once paced their lives to the shrill sirens of
nuclear alerts, they perform their daily chores at a rhythm set by a gong
hammered by the three men in charge, the "masters", who are themselves
reformed addicts.

DISCIPLINE SEEN AS WAY TO NEW LIFE

"Our method is a combination of work therapy and psychological correction,"
said Anatoly Fedoruk, 35, one of the masters who spent 18 years of his
"former" life on drugs.

He believes that the rigorous order established on the former base and
daily labour can heal the addicts.

"The effect of labour is such that a person changes and starts thinking in
a new way," he said. "Our patients just have no time to think about
narcotics."

In line with a programme designed by the Khmelnitsky regional authorities
in January last year in an attempt to save the lives of at least some of
the thousands of locally registered drug addicts, a group of enthusiasts
was allowed to open the rehabilitation centre. They called it "Viktoria".

Strict discipline reigns. All patients must sign a pledge to abstain from
drugs, alcohol and sex, to be honest and not to leave the territory of the
base.

As in the army, orders are orders, insubordination is never discussed and
the lonely base, 20 km (12 miles) from the nearest village, seems an ideal
location for the camp.

Every morning, each patient is given work orders for the day. Daily chores
range from tending pigs and chickens at a former military storehouse to
repairing barracks left in a mess after the last Soviet soldiers retreated
a few years ago.

Despite hard work, tough discipline and sordid living conditions, the
inmates seem satisfied with their life.

"Only by going through a centre like this can you become human again," said
30-year-old Natasha, who once ran a bookshop. Viktoria is her third attempt
at quitting drugs.

"We are taught everything here. This is the place to get rid of our
dependence."

MORE REHABILITATION CENTRES PLANNED

Larisa Vysotska, director of the centre, said around 1,500 drug addicts are
officially registered in the Khmelnitsky region, while the number of those
not reflected in official statistics may be 10 times higher.

There are no official statistics for Ukraine as a whole, where the 50
million population includes a growing army of desperate young people
seeking refuge from hardship in drugs.

Vysotska said centres similar to Viktoria would be opened in several other
western regions, as well as in the capital Kiev, in Odessa on the Black Sea
and in Donetsk region in the east.

But she said the planned new centres were unlikely to be able to cope with
the growing ranks of drug addicts.

"We understand we cannot help everyone. But if we only save a few lives,
our efforts won't be wasted," she said.

Vysotska said she had managed to save her own son, who used to take drugs,
through a similar centre in neighbouring Poland.

Fedoruk said that turning former addicts into educators was a key to success.

"A lot of people think a junkie can't quit. But we prove here that this is
possible, that drug addicts can be the same as every other human being," he
said.

Natasha, who also carries the HIV virus which leads to AIDS as a result of
sharing an infected needle, has been at the centre for 10 months and her
term will be end in two.

She would like to help the others to escape addiction when her own
treatment is over.

"Drug addiction is a horrible disease, incurable for many, but I want to
help people to break free of that nightmare," she said. "I would like to
become an educator, a master. I was given help, and now I would like to
help the others."