The once mighty communist empire spared no expense on either defense or science. And from Pacific Ocean Huge antennas aimed into space rose to the middle of Europe, and secret military bunkers were hidden in the forests. With the collapse of the Union, the heirs found it unaffordable to maintain many of these facilities. And the newly formed young states were not interested in science, and the task of border defense was assigned to powerful neighbors...
Here are just a few structures out of thousands of secret and not-so-secret objects hidden in the mountains and forests that characterize the full power of the collapsed empire. But these are only the least valuable ones, which turned out to be unclaimed during the period of division of property between the once fraternal republics...
Balaklava, Crimea, Ukraine
Secret base submarines
One of the largest military installations that were abandoned after the collapse of the USSR.
Since 1961, under Mount Tavros there was a complex where ammunition was stored (including nuclear) and repairs of submarines were carried out.
Up to 14 submarines could hide in the docks of the base different classes, and the entire complex was able to withstand a direct blow nuclear bomb power up to 100 kT.
The object, abandoned in 1993, was stolen for scrap metal local residents and only in 2002 a museum complex was organized on the remains of the submarine base.
Abandoned missile silo, Kekava, Latvia
After the collapse of the empire, the young republics inherited a lot of military property, including ballistic missile launch silos scattered throughout the forests.
Not far from the town of Kekava, there is former location R-12U complex. It consisted of 4 launch silos and a central control and technical support bunker.
This is a former secret facility of the USSR - one of missile shields homeland! In the 1960s, the Dvina complex was built here, which consisted of four “glasses” - shafts more than 35 meters deep and underground bunkers.
The territory was surrounded by a triple perimeter of fence and barbed wire, behind which machine gunners were on duty around the clock, and the area was visible from towers. Residents of the surrounding villages had no idea WHAT was nearby!
But the military left the base already in the 1980s, took away everything valuable and secret, and then those same residents from the surrounding villages came and stole everything they could; in the early 1990s, even convex-concave doors weighing more than a ton were cut off and handed over to scrap metal...
Now most of the underground rooms are flooded, at the bottom of the “glasses” there are remnants of super-toxic rocket fuel...
Giant excavators, Moscow region
Until 1993, the Lopatinsky phosphorite mine was a completely successful operating deposit, where the most necessary for the Soviet Agriculture fossils. And with the advent of a market economy, abandoned quarries with giant bucket excavators became a place of pilgrimage for tourists.
You should hurry up with your visit; the huge mechanical dinosaurs are gradually being dismantled for scrap metal. But even after dismantling latest technology Thanks to the unearthly landscapes, Lopatinsky quarries will remain a very remarkable place. And by the way, you can still find fossils of ancient marine life here.
Over-the-horizon radar Duga, Pripyat, Ukraine
The titanic structure, built in 1985 to detect launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, could have operated successfully to this day, but in fact it did not work less than a year.
The giant antenna, 150 meters high and 800 meters long, consumed such an amount of electricity that it was built almost right next to Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and, naturally, stopped its work along with the explosion of the station.
IN currently Excursions are taken to Pripyat, including to the foot of the radar station, but only a few take the risk of climbing the 150-meter height.
Ionosphere Research Station, Zmiev, Ukraine
Almost before the collapse Soviet Union an ionospheric research station was built near Kharkov, which was a direct analogue American project HAARP in Alaska, which still operates successfully today.
The station complex consisted of several antenna fields and a giant parabolic antenna with a diameter of 25 meters, capable of emitting a power of about 25 MW.
But to the young to the Ukrainian state advanced, and very expensive, scientific equipment turned out to be of no use, and only stalkers and hunters for non-ferrous metals are now interested in the once secret station. And of course, tourists.
Abandoned Accelerator elementary particles, Moscow region
In the late 80s, the dying Soviet Union decided to build a huge particle accelerator. The 21-kilometer-long ring tunnel, located at a depth of 60 meters, is now located near Protvino (aka Serpukhov-7) near Moscow, the city of nuclear physicists.
It is less than a hundred kilometers from Moscow along the Simferopol highway. They even began to deliver equipment into the already completed accelerator tunnel, but then a series of political upheavals struck, and the domestic “hadron collider” was left to rot underground...
The location was chosen for geological reasons - it is in this part of the Moscow region that the soil allows for the placement of large underground facilities.
Underground halls for housing large-sized equipment were connected to the surface by vertical shafts down 68 meters! Cargo cranes with a lifting capacity of up to 20 tons are installed directly above the well. The diameter of the well is 9.5 m.
At one time, we were 9 years ahead of the United States and Europe, but now the opposite is true, we are far behind and the Institute simply does not have the money to complete construction and put the Accelerator into operation.
The remaining engineers and scientists tried to use the crumbs provided by the state budget to bring the matter to a more or less acceptable conclusion. At least in the form of a complete unique engineering structure— an underground “donut” 21 km long.
But it is quite obvious that a country with a destroyed economy, which does not have clear prospects for its further development as part of the world community, will not be able to implement such a project...
The costs of creating an UNC are commensurate in scale with the costs of construction nuclear power plant.
Maybe the physicists of the next generation will find a worthy use for it...
Sea town " Oil stones", Azerbaijan
The Union needed oil, and in the 40s of the last century, offshore production began in the Caspian Sea, 42 kilometers east of the Absheron Peninsula.
And around the first platforms a city began to grow, also located on metal overpasses and embankments.
During its heyday, power plants, nine-story dormitory buildings, hospitals, a cultural center, a bakery and even a lemonade shop were built on the open sea, 110 km from Baku.
The oil workers also had a small park with real trees. Oil rocks are more than 200 stationary platforms, and the length of the streets and alleys of this city at sea reaches 350 kilometers.
But cheap Siberian oil made offshore production unprofitable and the village began to fall into disrepair. Today only about 2 thousand people live here.
Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. Kazakhstan. Semipalatinsk
The Semipalatinsk nuclear test site is the first and one of the largest nuclear test sites in the USSR, also known as “SINT” - the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site.
Semipalatinsk test site. Google view. Underground testing sites
In the territory Semipalatinsk test site there is an object where the most modern nuclear weapon. There are only four such facilities in the world.
On its territory there is the previously closed city of Kurchatov, renamed in honor Soviet physicist Igor Kurchatov, previously - Moscow 400, Bereg, Semipalatinsk-21, Terminus station.
From 1949 to 1989 at Semipalatinsk nuclear test site at least 468 were produced nuclear tests, in which at least 616 nuclear and thermonuclear devices were exploded, including: 125 atmospheric (26 ground, 91 air, 8 high-altitude); 343 test nuclear explosion underground (of which 215 are in adits and 128 in wells).
IN hazardous areas The radioactive background of the former test site still (as of 2009) reaches 10-20 milliroentgen per hour. Despite this, people still live at the site.
The territory of the landfill was not protected in any way and until 2006 it was not marked on the ground in any way.
Radioactive clouds from 55 air and ground explosions and the gas fraction from 169 underground tests escaped the test site. It was these 224 explosions that caused radiation contamination of the entire eastern part of Kazakhstan.
Kadykchan "Death Valley" Russia, Magadan region
An abandoned mining “ghost town” is located 65 km away northwest of the city Susuman in the Ayan-Yurya river basin (tributary of the Kolyma).
The almost 6 thousand population of Kadykchan began to rapidly melt after an explosion at a mine in 1996, then it was decided to close the village. There has been no heat here since January 1996—due to an accident, the local boiler room froze forever. The remaining residents are heated using stoves. The sewage system has not worked for a long time, and you have to go outside to go to the toilet.
There are books and furniture in houses, cars in garages, children's potties in toilets.
On the square near the cinema there is a bust of V.I., which was finally shot by residents. Lenin. Residents were evacuated within a few days when the city was “unfrozen.” It's been like that ever since...
There are only two principled residents left. There is an eerie silence over the city, broken by the occasional grinding of roofing iron in the wind and the cries of crows...
The number of abandoned cities, towns and villages on the territory of the former USSR cannot be accurately calculated. The political, economic and geological transformations of our state over the past 100 years have created a whole host of objects that are now left behind modern reality.
Abandoned cities in Russia formed a new layer of apocalyptic culture, which arose at the turn of the millennium on the waves of the increasingly popular themes of the End of the World, the Mayan calendar, Vanga’s predictions and big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. Now abandoned cities are actively used to create scenery for man's eternal fear of the Apocalypse. Musicians, photographers, filmmakers, writers, stalkers and other people come here in an effort to find inspiration and drink “dead water” from a stream of something invisible and infinitely mysterious.
Alternative and extreme species tourism is also gaining momentum. Standard attractions, exhausting with an abundance of information about themselves, attract fewer and fewer travelers. The modern tourist is slowly turning into a researcher chasing some metaphysical “non-standard”. The endless opportunities to share your “finds” via the Internet only contribute to the desire to stand out, be unique and separate from the rest of the “crowd”.
Today we would also like to turn to the topic of abandoned cities. Topics for Russia and the countries of the former USSR are truly inexhaustible, and also extremely exciting and intriguing. Let's take a few minutes away from the fear of these silent "ghosts" and slowly walk through their quiet, deserted streets.
1. Khalmer-Yu (Komi Republic)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Halmer-Yu.
Miners' village. Liquidated during perestroika due to the closure of coal mines.
The area is now used as a military training ground, call sign "Pemboi". On August 17, 2005, during a strategic aviation exercise, a Tu-160 bomber, carrying Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, launched three missiles at former home culture of an abandoned village.
2. Staraya Gubakha (Perm region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Old Gubakha.
An abandoned mining village near a depleted coal mine. High degree destruction of buildings.
3. Industrial (Komi Republic)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Industrial.
Mining village. In 1998, an explosion at a local mine killed 27 miners. The bodies of 19 of them were never found. The mine closed, the village was deserted.
4. Yubileiny (Perm region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Yubileiny.
5. Iultin (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Iultin.
6. Kolendo (Sakhalin region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Kolendo.
7. Nizhneyansk (Yakutia)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Nizhneyansk.
8. Fin whale (Kamchatka region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Finval.
9. Alykel (Taimyr Autonomous Okrug)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Alykel.
10. Neftegorsk (Sakhalin region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Neftegorsk.
11. Kursha-2 (Ryazan region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Kursha-2.
12. Mologa (Yaroslavl region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Mologa.
13. Charonda (Vologda region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Charonda.
14. Amderma (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Amderma.
15. Korzunovo (Murmansk region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Korzunovo.
City of pilots and gunners. Yuri Gagarin served here in the 1950s.
16. Kadykchan (Magadan region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Kadykchan.
A ghost town, whose residents mined coal for the Arkagalinskaya State District Power Plant.
17. Pripyat (Ukraine)
Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Pripyat.
18. Chernobyl-2 (Ukraine)
Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Chernobyl-2.
An abandoned city, and previously lived here by the military, servicing the Soviet over-the-horizon radar station "Duga" for an early detection system for intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
19. Ostroglyady (Belarus)
Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Ostroglyady.
The ghost village was resettled after the Chernobyl disaster.
Military bases and installations whose service life was designed to last only a few years, or, conversely, facilities built to support the thousand-year Reich, are scattered across the globe. Some of them have found a second life, while others still remain abandoned and continue to collapse.
RAF Hethel
Royal Air Force Base Hethel is former base Royal Air Force, which was used by the US Air Force and the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. The airfield is located 11 kilometers southeast of Norwich, England; it is currently owned by the English sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus Cars.
Hethel Air Base in 1944
In 1966, Lotus Cars moved into a building specially built on the site of the airfield and reconstructed part of the runways and taxiways into test tracks for its cars. The plant and engineering centers occupy an area of 0.22 sq. km of the former airfield; 4 km of former runways are allocated for test runs. Most of The coverings of the remaining runways were removed and used for road construction, and part of the land was also returned to agricultural use. The old layout can still be seen in aerial photographs.
Today the company also works in the field of engineering consulting, performing engineering developments for automotive industry. The Lotus Driving Academy, the racing arm of Lotus Racing, is also located in Hethel.
Submarine base in Balaklava, Crimea. Entrance tunnel to this old Soviet submarine base
In Crimea there is a maritime museum complex Balaklava, which is underground base for submarines. In the era Cold War a super-secret military facility was located in Balaklava Bay.
Stalin issued a secret directive: find a place where submarines designed to launch a nuclear retaliatory strike could be based. After several years of searching, the choice fell on the quiet bay of Balaklava and the city was immediately classified. The city of Balaklava is located in a narrow bay only 200–400 meters wide. Small coves protect the city not only from storms, but also from prying eyes from the outside. open sea it is not visible from any angle. In addition, the site is located near Sevastopol, the main naval base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Old berth of Soviet submarines
In 1957, a special construction department number 528 was organized, which directly supervised the construction of underground structures. The construction of this underground complex lasted four years, from 1957 to 1961.
After its closure in 1993, most of the complex was left unguarded. In 2000, the abandoned facility was transferred to the Ukrainian Navy.
The museum was organized in 2002 in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, according to which a branch was established Central Museum Ukrainian Armed Forces - naval complex "Balaklava".
Abandoned barracks of Fort Ord
Fort Ord opened in 1940 and closed in 1994. This Fort became the largest American military base closed at that time. Most of the old buildings and infrastructure remain abandoned, but many structures have already been demolished for planned construction.
Fort Ord in the 40s
In April 2012, President Obama signed a declaration according to which 5,929 hectares were given over to the creation of the so-called Fort Ord National Monument. In his declaration, the President stated that "protecting the Fort Ord area will preserve its historic and cultural significance, will attract tourists and outdoor enthusiasts from everywhere and enrich its unique Natural resources to the joy of all Americans."
Johnston Atoll, USA
Johnston Atoll is a so-called unincorporated unorganized territory of the United States. The atoll is managed by the United States Game and Fish Department. You can get to the atoll only with a special permit and the contingent arriving there is mainly limited to scientists and researchers.
For almost 70 years, the atoll was controlled by the American military. During this time it was used as a bird sanctuary, a marine fuel terminal, a landing site for spacecraft, an air base, a nuclear and biological test site, a secret missile base and, finally, a storage site and plant for the destruction of the defoliant Agent Orange. Work to destroy the defoliant has heavily polluted the environment, so restoration and monitoring work is currently ongoing there. In 2004, the American military base was closed and transferred to civilian structures of the US government.
Zeljava Air Base in Croatia
Zeljava Air Base on the border of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was the largest underground airfield and military airbase in former Yugoslavia and one of the largest in Europe.
Construction of the Zeljava or Bihac airbase (code name "Object 505") began in 1948 and was completed in 1968. Over these two decades, Yugoslavia spent $6 billion on construction, triple the current annual defense spending of Serbia and Croatia combined. It was one of the largest and most expensive military projects in Europe.
Command Center
The airbase was used intensively in 1991 during Yugoslav wars. During the Yugoslav withdrawal people's army destroyed the runway by filling pre-prepared voids (directly intended for this purpose) with explosives and then detonating it. In order to prevent any possible future use of the complex by opposition forces, the Serbian Krajina military completed its destruction in 1992, detonating another 56 tons of explosives. The subsequent explosions were so powerful that tremors were felt in the nearby city of Bihac. Residents of the town said that smoke was still rising from the tunnels six months after the explosions.
The cost of the destroyed main buildings and equipment cannot be estimated, and damage was also caused great damage environment. Possible restoration (reconstruction) of the facility is limited by the lack of financial resources. International border divides the base into two parts, the entire area around it is heavily mined. The barracks in the nearby village of Ličko Petrovo Selo are run by the Croatian Army.
Radar complex Duga 3, Ukraine
Duga-3 is a Soviet over-the-horizon radar system used as part of the Soviet early warning system missile attack. The complex operated from July 1976 to December 1989. Two Duga-3 radars were deployed, one near Chernobyl and Chernigov and the second in eastern Siberia.
In the late 1980s, the Ukrainian radar located in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was deactivated.
Submarine Base Saint-Nazaire, France
Before the Second World War, Saint-Nazaire was one of the deepest harbors on Atlantic coast France. During the Battle of France german army landed at Saint-Nazaire in June 1940. The harbor immediately began to be used for operations submarine fleet, in September 1940, German submarines U-46 arrived at the base.
In December the commission construction department The Third Reich checked the harbor for the possibility of building a submarine base invulnerable to aerial bombardment from England.
Base under construction, April 1942
Construction began in February 1941, with parking lots 6, 7 and 8 completed in June 1941. Docks 9 to 14 were built from July 1941 to January 1942; and from February to June 1942, berths 1 to 5. Work eventually culminated in the construction of a tower.
In late 1943 and early 1944, a fortified lock was built to protect submarines as they moved out of the Loire River and shelters. The gateway was 155 meters long, 25 meters wide and 14 meters high, and anti-aircraft weapons were installed on the roof.
Air defense towers in Austria and Germany; pictured L-Tower in Vienna
Since 1940, only 8 huge concrete structures, the so-called anti-aircraft towers, have been built in the cities of Berlin (3), Hamburg (2) and Vienna (3).
Air defense towers were also built in other German cities, such as Stuttgart and Frankfurt. Smaller, dedicated air defense towers were built at key remote German locations such as Angers in France and Helgoland in Germany.
Tower during construction (1942)
During World War II, these towers were used by the Luftwaffe to protect cities from Allied air raids and coordinate air defense. During raids, they also became shelters for tens of thousands of people.
Maginot Line, France. View of Fort Schoenenbourg in Alsace
The Maginot Line was a line of concrete fortifications and gun complexes that France built along the border with Switzerland and the borders with Germany and Luxembourg in the 1930s. This line did not run along the English Channel because the French military did not want to jeopardize Belgium's neutrality. French combat experience gained in World War I formed the basis for the concept of the Maginot Line, which was built mainly in the 1930s in preparation for World War II.
Bunker 14 at Uvraz Hochwald in 1940
The French built these fortifications in order to gain time for their army, to carry out general mobilization in case of attack and advance French army to Belgium for decisive clash with the Germans. Success in static, defensive battles The First World War had a significant impact on French military thinking. French military experts praised the Maginot Line as an ingenious design, believing that it could prevent any invasions from the East.
If this whole system prevented from a direct attack, then with strategic point it turned out to be useless because German troops invaded through Belgium, bypassed the Maginot Line and attacked it from the rear.
At the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945, the Germans were already defending the Line from the advancing Allies, who again attacked it from the rear.
Maunsell sea forts in the North Sea
The Maunsell sea forts are located in the North Sea, near the coast of Great Britain, at the mouths of the Mersey and Thames rivers. They served as fortifications for the army and navy and were named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned in the late 1950s and were later used for other activities, including hosting pirate radio stations. One of the forts is controlled by the unrecognized principality of Sealand. Ships visit the remaining forts sporadically, and a consortium called Project Redsands plans to preserve the fort located at Red Sands.
Army fort in Her Majesty's active service
During the summers of 2007 and 2008, Red Sands Radio operated from Red Sands Fort in memory of the pirate radio stations of the 60s. The fort was later declared unsafe and the commercial radio station Red Sands Radio moved to its offices on the coast.
Materials used:
www.thebrigade.com
www.wikipedia.org
After the collapse of the USSR, the young states inherited many once powerful military and scientific facilities. The most dangerous and secret objects were urgently mothballed and evacuated, while many others were simply abandoned. They were left to rust: after all, the economies of most newly created states simply could not support their maintenance; no one needed them. Now some of them represent a kind of mecca for stalkers, “tourist” sites, visiting which involves considerable risk.
“Resident Evil”: a top-secret complex on Vozrozhdenie Island in the Aral Sea
During Soviet times, a complex of military bioengineering institutes was located on an island in the middle of the Aral Sea, engaged in the development and testing of biological weapons. It was an object of such secrecy that most of the employees involved in the landfill maintenance infrastructure simply did not know where exactly they were working. On the island itself there were buildings and laboratories of the institute, vivariums, and equipment warehouses. In the town, very comfortable living conditions were created for researchers and military personnel in conditions of complete autonomy. The island was carefully guarded by the military on land and sea.
In 1992, the entire facility was urgently mothballed and abandoned by all occupants, including the facility's guards. For some time it remained a “ghost town” until it was discovered by looters, who for more than 10 years removed from the island everything that was abandoned there. The fate of the secret developments carried out on the island and their results - cultures of deadly microorganisms - still remains a mystery.
Heavy-duty “Russian Woodpecker”: Radar “Duga”, Pripyat
The Duga over-the-horizon radar station is a radar station created in the USSR for early detection of intercontinental ballistic missile launches by starting flashes (based on the reflection of radiation by the ionosphere). This gigantic structure took 5 years to build and was completed in 1985. The cyclopean antenna, 150 meters high and 800 meters long, consumed a huge amount of electricity, so it was built near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Behind characteristic sound On the air, the sound made during operation (knock) of the station was called Russian Woodpecker (Russian Woodpecker). The installation was built to last and could function successfully to this day, but in reality the Duga radar operated for less than a year. The facility stopped operating after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion.
Underwater submarine shelter: Balaklava, Crimea
As they say knowledgeable people- this top-secret submarine base was a transshipment point where submarines, including nuclear ones, were repaired, refueled and replenished with ammunition. It was a gigantic complex built to last, capable of withstanding nuclear attack, under its arches could accommodate up to 14 underwater vessels at the same time. This military base built in 1961 and abandoned in 1993, after which it was dismantled piece by piece by local residents. In 2002, it was decided to build a museum complex on the ruins of the base, but so far things have not gone beyond words. However, local diggers willingly take everyone there.
"Zone" in Latvian forests: Dvina missile silo, Kekava, Latvia
Very close to the capital of Latvia in the forest there are the remains of missile complex"Dvina". Built in 1964, the facility consisted of 4 launch shafts approximately 35 meters deep and underground bunkers. Much of the premises is currently flooded, and visiting the launch site without an experienced stalker guide is not recommended. Also dangerous are the remnants of toxic rocket fuel - heptyl, which, according to some information, remain in the depths of launch silos.
“The Lost World” in the Moscow region: Lopatinsky phosphate mine
The Lopatinskoye phosphorite deposit, 90 km from Moscow, was the largest in Europe. In the 30s of the last century they began to actively develop it open method. At the Lopatinsky quarry, all main types of multi-bucket excavators were used - moving on rails, moving on tracks, and excavators walking at an “added” step. It was a giant development with its own railroad. After 1993, the field was closed, abandoning all the expensive imported special equipment.
Mining of phosphorites has led to the emergence of an incredible “unearthly” landscape. The long and deep troughs of the quarries are mostly flooded. They are interspersed with high sandy ridges, turning into flat, table-like sandy fields, black, white and reddish dunes, pine forests with regular rows of planted pine trees. Giant excavators - "absetzers" resemble alien ships rusting on the sands under open air. All this makes the Lopatin quarries a kind of natural-technogenic “reserve”, a place of increasingly lively pilgrimage for tourists.
“Well to Hell”: Kola superdeep well, Murmansk region
The Kola superdeep well is the deepest in the world. Its depth is 12,262 meters. Is in Murmansk region, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny. The well was drilled in the northeastern part of the Baltic shield exclusively for research purposes in the place where bottom line the earth's crust comes close to the Earth's surface. IN best years 16 people worked at the Kola superdeep well research laboratories, they were personally supervised by the Minister of Geology of the USSR.
A lot has been done at the well most interesting discoveries, for example, the fact that life on Earth appeared 1.5 billion years earlier than expected. At depths where it was believed that there was no and could not be organic matter, 14 species of fossilized microorganisms were discovered - the age of the deep layers exceeded 2.8 billion years. In 2008, the facility was abandoned, the equipment was dismantled, and the destruction of the building began.
As of 2010, the well has been mothballed and is gradually being destroyed. The cost of restoration is about one hundred million rubles. From Kola ultra-deep well There are many implausible legends about a “well to hell” from the bottom of which the cries of sinners are heard, and the drills are melted by hellish flames.
"Russian HAARP" - multifunctional radio complex "Sura"
In the late 1970s, as part of geophysical research near the city of Vasilsursk Nizhny Novgorod region built a multifunctional radio complex "Sura" to influence the Earth's ionosphere with powerful HF radio emission. The Sura complex, in addition to antennas, radars and radio transmitters, includes laboratory complex, utility block, specialized transformer electrical substation. The once secret station, where a number of important studies are still being carried out today, is a thoroughly rusted and battered, but still not completely abandoned object. One of important areas Research carried out at the complex is the development of ways to protect the operation of equipment and communications from ion disturbances in the atmosphere of various natures.
Currently, the station operates for only 100 hours a year, while the famous American HAARP facility runs experiments for 2,000 hours over the same period. The Nizhny Novgorod Radiophysical Institute does not have enough money for electricity - in one day of work, the test site equipment deprives the complex of a monthly budget. The complex is threatened not only by lack of money, but also by theft of property. Due to the lack of proper security, “hunters” for scrap metal continually sneak into the station’s territory.
"Oil Rocks" - a sea city of oil producers, Azerbaijan
This settlement on trestles standing directly in the Caspian Sea is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest oil platforms. It was built in 1949 in connection with the beginning of oil extraction from the seabed around the Black Rocks - a rock ridge barely protruding from the surface of the sea. Here there are drilling rigs connected by overpasses, on which a settlement of oil field workers is located. The village grew, and in its heyday included power plants, nine-story dormitory buildings, hospitals, a community center, a park with trees, a bakery, a lemonade production plant, and even a mosque with a full-time mullah.
The length of the elevated streets and alleys of the sea city reaches 350 kilometers. Resident population there was no one in the city, and up to 2,000 people lived there as part of the rotational shift. The period of decline of Oil Rocks began with the advent of cheaper Siberian oil, which made offshore production unprofitable. However, the seaside town still did not become a ghost town; at the beginning of 2000, major repair work began there and even the laying of new wells began.
Failed collider: abandoned particle accelerator, Protvino, Moscow region
In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union planned to build a huge particle accelerator. Podmoskovny science Center Protvino - the city of nuclear physicists - in those years was a powerful complex of physics institutes, where scientists from all over the world came. A circular tunnel 21 kilometers long was built, lying at a depth of 60 meters. It is still located near Protvino. They even began to deliver equipment into the already completed accelerator tunnel, but then a series of political upheavals struck, and the domestic “hadron collider” remained uninstalled.
The institutions of the city of Protvino maintain the satisfactory condition of this tunnel - an empty dark ring underground. There is a lighting system there, and there is a functioning narrow-gauge railway line. All sorts of commercial projects were proposed, such as an underground amusement park or even a mushroom farm. However, scientists are not giving this object away yet - perhaps they are hoping for the best.
A secret submarine base, an abandoned missile silo, giant excavators, an over-the-horizon radar "Duga", a sea city on the "Oil Rocks" platforms, a Soviet hadron collider - an elementary particle accelerator and a station for studying the ionosphere. The once mighty communist empire spared no expense on either defense or science. And from the Pacific Ocean to the middle of Europe, huge antennas aimed at space rose, and secret military bunkers hid in the forests. With the collapse of the Union, the heirs found it unaffordable to maintain many of these facilities. And the newly formed young states were not interested in science, and the task of defending the borders was assigned to powerful neighbors. Here are just a few structures out of thousands of secret and not-so-secret objects hidden in the mountains and forests that characterize the full power of the collapsed empire. But these are only the least valuable ones, which turned out to be unclaimed during the period of division of property between the once fraternal republics.
Balaclava (Ukraine, Crimea)
The secret submarine base in the small Crimean town of Balaklava is one of the largest military facilities abandoned after the collapse of the USSR. Since 1961, under Mount Tavros there was a complex where ammunition was stored (including nuclear) and repairs of submarines were carried out. Up to 14 submarines of different classes could take refuge in the docks of the base, and the entire complex was capable of withstanding a direct hit from a nuclear bomb with a power of up to 100 kT. Abandoned in 1993, the object was stolen for scrap by local residents. Without accurate maps walking through the numerous tunnels of the base was dangerous, since there was real danger get lost or fall into one of the many hatches (they are open, as the locals sold the lids for scrap metal). In 2002, it was decided to turn the remains of the submarine base in Balaklava into a museum complex dedicated to the confrontation during the Cold War. Abandoned missile silo (Latvia, Kekava)
After the collapse of the empire, the young republics inherited a lot of military property, including ballistic missile launch silos scattered throughout the forests. Very close to the capital of Latvia are the remains of the Dvina missile system. Built in 1964, the facility consisted of 4 launch shafts approximately 35 meters deep and underground bunkers. Much of the premises is currently flooded and visiting the launch site without an experienced guide is not recommended. Residues of toxic rocket fuel also pose a danger. Giant excavators (Russia, Moscow region)
Until 1993, the Lopatinsky phosphorite mine was a completely successful operating deposit, where the most necessary minerals for Soviet agriculture were mined. And with the advent of a market economy, abandoned quarries with giant bucket excavators became a place of pilgrimage for tourists. Lopatinsky mine interesting place not far from Voskresensk. There are interesting things there - giant excavators (paragraphs) and prehistoric fossils (ammonites and fragments of marine reptiles). Until recently, it was possible to climb through ownerless paragraphs, but now they have been dismantled and only the active ones remain, which are protected. Over-the-horizon radar "Duga" (Ukraine, Pripyat)
The titanic structure, built in 1985 to detect launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, could have successfully functioned to this day, but in fact it worked for less than a year. The giant antenna, 150 meters high and 800 meters long, consumed such an amount of electricity that it was built almost right next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and, naturally, stopped working with the explosion of the station. At the moment, excursions are taken to Pripyat, including to the foot of the radar station, but only a few risk climbing the 150-meter height. Sea city "Oil Rocks" (Azerbaijan)
The Union needed oil, and in the 40s of the last century, offshore production began in the Caspian Sea, 42 kilometers east of the Absheron Peninsula. And around the first platforms a city began to grow, also located on metal overpasses and embankments. During its heyday, power plants, nine-story dormitory buildings, hospitals, a cultural center, a bakery and even a lemonade shop were built on the open sea, 110 km from Baku. The oil workers also had a small park with real trees. Oil rocks are more than 200 stationary platforms, and the length of the streets and alleys of this city at sea reaches 350 kilometers. But cheap Siberian oil made offshore production unprofitable and the village began to fall into disrepair. Today only about 2 thousand people live here. Abandoned particle accelerator (Russia, Moscow region)
In the late 80s, the dying Soviet Union decided to build a huge particle accelerator. The 21-kilometer-long ring tunnel, located at a depth of 60 meters, is now located near Protvino, a city near Moscow, a city of nuclear physicists. It is less than a hundred kilometers from Moscow along the Simferopol highway. They even began to bring equipment into the already completed accelerator tunnel, but then a series of political upheavals struck, and the domestic “hadron collider” was left to rot underground. Station for studying the ionosphere (Ukraine, Zmiev)
Almost just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, an ionospheric research station was built near Kharkov, which was a direct analogue of the American HAARP project in Alaska, which is still successfully operating today. The station complex consisted of several antenna fields and a giant parabolic antenna with a diameter of 25 meters, capable of emitting a power of about 25 MW. For some time the station was abandoned and was an object for tourists and hunters for non-ferrous metals, but fortunately, now everything is functional and the station even has a website: //www.iion.org.ua/