Short answers, pulled from the story.
Russian forces constructed a wooden fort beside the Irtysh River in 1718. The new settlement took the name Semipalatinsk, which translates directly to Seven-Chambered City in Russian.
The Soviet Union operated the Semipalatinsk Test Site from the first explosion in 1949 until 1989. Officials conducted 456 nuclear tests including 340 underground explosions and 116 atmospheric blasts.
On the 19th of May 1854, officials designated Semipalatinsk as the capital of the newly formed Semipalatinsk Oblast within the Russian Empire. In 2007, the Semipalatinsk City Council voted unanimously to change the name of the city to Semey because the existing name carried negative associations due to extensive atomic testing.
In March 2022, President Tokayev selected Semey as the prospective capital of the new Abai Region. This administrative change came into force on the 8th of June 2022 when Abai Region became an official part of Kazakhstan.
The Museum of F. M. Dostoevsky in Semey opened on the 7th of May 1971 through a Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR N 261. Of the seven museums devoted to Dostoevsky worldwide, this is the only one located outside Russia.