After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the young states inherited not only factories and factories, but also abandoned military facilities of the USSR. Among them, there are both strictly classified and not very classified. The economies of many newly emerging countries did not allow pulling up the content, providing and maintaining the functioning of these strategically important complexes. Some states simply did not need them and did not consider it necessary to spend huge amounts of money from the federal treasury on this. So there were abandoned military facilities. Gradually they collapsed and became worthless.
Consider the most interesting abandoned military installations from a huge variety of complexes scattered across forests and mountains, testifying to the former power of a crumbling empire. But this is only a fraction of the declassified buildings ...
Balaclava, Crimea
The storage of submarines, located on the territory of Sevastopol, is striking in its scale. Under its vaults, up to 14 large vessels could simultaneously accommodate. Here is abandoned military equipment, and details for it. This base was built in 1961, and it ceased to function in 1993, almost immediately after the collapse of the USSR. According to knowledgeable people, this place was a kind of transshipment point where submarines went for repairs and recharging, and ammunition was replenished here. Balaclava has been built for centuries and, thanks to its perfect design, is able to withstand direct nuclear strikes. But to date, she has replenished the list of "Abandoned military installations of the former Soviet Union." Now, little is left of it, since the residents of the district disassembled it literally into cogs. In 2002, local authorities announced their intention to create a museum in Balaclava, but things did not go beyond conversations.
Dvina rocket mine, Kekava (Latvia)
After the collapse of the USSR, many former republics got such military facilities, the presence of which they did not even realize. For example, not far from Riga, in the forest more often are the remains of the powerful Dvina missile system. It was built back in 1964 and consisted of four spacious launch mines, which were located at a depth of more than 34 meters. Currently, they are partially flooded, but anyone interested can go down in them, accompanied by an experienced stalker, to see firsthand what abandoned military facilities are. Although you should think carefully before you go on such an excursion. They say that a lot of rocket fuel remains in the mines , which, although not radioactive, is nonetheless poisonous.
Lopatinsky phosphorite mine (Moscow region)
Before the collapse of the USSR, this complex was a large field, where minerals and other substances used in agriculture and industry were mined. After 1993, the mine suspended its operations. All the equipment remained rusty ... Thus, a huge field with giant buckets of excavators became a pilgrimage site for thousands of tourists from all over the world.
Ionosphere Study Station (Ukraine)
This complex, which is located near Kharkov, was built just a year before the collapse of the USSR and was the answer to the creation of the famous American project HAARP in Alaska. The analogue of the USA, by the way, is successfully functioning to this day. The huge complex consisted of a giant parabolic antenna, whose diameter was 25 meters, and several research fields. Now the abandoned military equipment is standing still, resembling a sad cemetery. The newly minted Ukrainian state did not need this expensive and energy-intensive complex; now it is only interested in non-ferrous metal hunters, stalkers and tourists.
Sea city "Oil stones" (Azerbaijan)
In the 40s of the last century, the development of subsea deposits began here. They were carried out in the Caspian Sea, or rather, 42 kilometers from the Absheron Peninsula. Entire cities were built around the first platforms, which were based on metal trestles and embankments. Thus, power stations, nine-story houses, hospitals, schools and kindergartens were built in the middle of the water 110 kilometers from Baku. There was also a bakery, a house of culture, and even a lemonade production workshop. Oil workers even smashed a small square with trees and green spaces. The city of Oil Rocks occupies more than 200 platforms, and the length of the streets as a whole is more than 350 kilometers.
Soon, more profitable Siberian oil became popular, which immediately made the maintenance of subsea deposits unprofitable. Gradually, the cities on the water were empty. Surprisingly, Oil Rocks cannot be called a ghost town, as more than two thousand people still live in it.
Abandoned particle accelerator (Moscow region)
At the end of the 80s of the last century, the Soviet Union, which was losing its political position, decided to put into effect a tremendous plan. So there was an accelerator of elementary particles. The ring tunnel, whose length was 21 kilometers, ran at a depth of more than fifty meters. Geographically, it is located near the town of nuclear physicists Protvino. This is not far from Moscow - about a hundred kilometers along the Simferopol highway. Expensive equipment had already begun to be imported into the prepared tunnel, but perestroika began, and the Soviet "atomic collider" remained buried underground.
A place for him was selected on the basis of geological considerations. The soil on this site was ideally suited for the construction of large-scale underground structures. Huge halls were connected to the outer parts by pipes up to 68 meters long. Giant cranes with a lifting capacity of up to 20 tons were installed above the well.
At one time, this development was nine years ahead of its American counterparts. But with the collapse of the USSR, there was no money left for research. The cost of creating a collider can be commensurate with the cost of a huge nuclear power plant.
Currently, there are various abandoned military units, which once were a sign of the power of the state, and now are gradually being wiped off the face of the earth. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to restore them. Of particular interest are the vast military facilities of the Leningrad Region, some of which were classified as secret: the naval airfield on Powerful Island in Kingisepp District, abandoned training grounds, catacombs, bomb shelters, munitions factories, hangars and fortresses ... On the one hand, it seems and it’s good that all this exists, and anyone who is interested in the history of their country can see these objects with their own eyes. On the other hand, they make a depressing impression: so many forces, and maybe even lives, were put in place for their creation, now much has become unnecessary and abandoned ...