This city is about 1400KM (870 miles for those still using the archaic imperial system) from St. Petersburg. "Fear" might have been an exaggeration regarding this government entity, "healthy respect" might be more appropriate.

There's a common saying and popular T-Shirt logo that says:

"<this city name> is just like a payback card. Collect enough points and you get a bicycle" (n.b. it loses a bit of poignancy in translation to English)