In July last summer I was lucky to spend a week on Kildin Island, perhaps the most mysterious and unusual island in the Barents Sea. I was very lucky with the weather - before my arrival there was an extremely unusual heat for those places at plus thirty degrees. I walked around the island, both on the surface and in the depths, picking berries, fishing, sailing in a boat. In addition, I had a task to obtain photographic material for a scientific collection dedicated to the history of Soviet fortification. In this article I will tell you about the history of the island, show the landscapes of northern nature and its inhabitants. There will also be photographs of military ruins, but I will allow them to be emphasized in subsequent materials.

Much in it surprises scientists. For example, the rocks of the island form a multi-layered slate cake, but the opposite coast of the Kola Peninsula consists of granite. Only the Rybachy Peninsula has a layered structure, but there are many tens of kilometers to it. Kildin is small - seventeen kilometers long, seven wide, but on these seven kilometers several natural zones manage to coexist. The northern coast of the island is steep and precipitous, with two-hundred-meter cliffs, stones covered with silvery moss, and small lakes. Southern and eastern shores descend to the water in gentle terraces, polar shrubs and tall grass grow here.

1,2 - Views of Cape Byk - the western tip of the island. From here, steep and high layered cliffs begin and go along the entire northern coast.

3 - Cape Bull. The boundary between the flat and steep zones.

4,5 - north coast islands. The radio tower on the left side of the picture is a sea observation post.

6 - Terraces of the south coast wrapped in night fog. In general, fog over the island is quite common, milky thick and impenetrable.

7,8,9 - Landscapes typical of the northern part of the island. Terraces hide the true distance to objects. It seems that the sea is very close, but as soon as you walk a little, another step opens, invisible from above.

10.11 - Small freshwater lakes scattered throughout the island. In summer, geese, ducks and partridges nest here.

12,13,14,15 - South coast, facing the narrow strait between the mainland and the island. In the center of the strait is
the tiny island of Maly Kildin or, as the locals call it, Kildinyonok.

A similar zonality, starting from the bowels, also occurs under water. Lake Mogilnoye consists of three layers of water that never mix. The uppermost layer is fresh, inhabited by freshwater fish. The layer below it has a salinity similar to that of the surrounding sea. And at the very bottom reigns the world of hydrogen sulfide, separated from the salt water by a layer of bacteria that do not allow hydrogen sulfide to rise to the surface.

16,17,18 - The lake is separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land.

19,20,20a - A year ago, in a storm, the transport vessel Bereg Nadezhda was washed ashore, carrying drilling equipment to Chukotka. Soon, the cargo was removed, and the ship was abandoned, considering the reduction from stones to be unprofitable. So it stands, attracting robbers and tourists.

A hundred and fifty years ago, the Saami, the indigenous people of the Kola Peninsula, every summer drove reindeer herds to Kildin, and fairs grew in the east of the island, in a bay convenient for ship parking. Furs, fat, river pearls, fluff and fish were brought from Russia. In return, Dutch and Scandinavian merchants brought wine, spices, textiles and metal. From here, in 1594, William Barents went on a campaign, looking for a northern route to China and India.

21,22,23 - The coast in the area of ​​the former fairs.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery built a camp on the island and established year-round fishing. But the government did not care about the remote island, and in 1809 English robber ships came to Kildin, sank fishing boats, destroyed and burned the settlement, killing all the inhabitants, dumping the corpses into the lake. Since then, it has received the name Mogilnoye, like the bay.

24.25 - Mogilnaya Bay now. At the mooring barrel are the yachts of the Murmansk Yacht Club.

26,27,28,29 - Automatic beacon and old power line, next to Lake Mogilny. In the last third of summer, purple Ivan-tea blooms densely on the island.

In the second half of the 19th century, the government finally became interested in the island, issuing large benefits for those who want to settle. They promised not to collect duties for several years, to allocate free timber for the construction of houses and ships, and exemption from recruitment duty. In addition to the Russians, foreigners also rushed to the island, who quickly settled down and established a household.

30-36 - Diverse flora and fauna of the island. In 2009, a bear even sailed from the mainland, terrifying fishermen and tourists.

After the October Revolution and civil war, as a result of the redistribution state borders, trade communication with the island was sharply reduced, and in 1931 the nationalization of the property of the islanders began. The Norwegians were forced out of the island, and in 1939, all the remaining inhabitants. The Gulag was built, the prisoners of which began the construction of a 180-millimeter turret artillery battery. At a depth of many meters, in the thickness of the stone, terraces and rooms were built. Berths for warships, an airfield, buildings of a military camp were built at an accelerated pace.

37 - The only paved road on the island built by prisoners.

38, 39 - Piedmont ammunition depots.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the island turned into a military fortress with tower and open artillery batteries, an air defense division, a machine-gun and tank company, radar stations, an airfield, communication and observation centers, and an infirmary. But, despite such great firepower, during the war years Kildin did not fire a single shot.

40,41,42 - In the bowels of a 180 mm turret artillery battery.

After the victory, some of the weapons were taken to the mainland, reviving the fishing base on the island. This continued until the 50s, and then underground construction began again. Huge trenches were dug in the rocks, in which concrete premises of future stationary missile systems were built. Underground command posts were erected nearby, and on south coast piedmont storage for torpedoes and other weapons.

43,44,45 - Remains of P-35 anti-ship cruise missiles, missile mock-up, transport trolleys.

And dragged on for many years, consisting of planned and unannounced checks, firing, fresh mail, political activities and waiting for orders. With the commissioning of the Orbita space system, a TV set came to the island, and on weekends a movie was shown in the sailor's club. And then the huge country fell apart. The withdrawal of troops and the reduction of units began. The hour struck in 1994 and the night of December 31, 1995, the last rocket officer left the island, and in the spring, when the snow had just melted, other people came. People with autogens, cranes and tractors.

Now only ruins remained from the past life on the island, gradually absorbed by nature. Of the military units, there are only two posts for monitoring the sea - ten conscripts, a midshipman, and a contract driver. Naval "shovels" regularly bring them coal, and exercises are held every August.

46,47,48,49 - Navy ships serving the garrison of the island. Transport "Pechora", sea tug, small landing craft.

Every year the big bosses come to approve the place for shooting. Every year it's the same. Then three BDKs enter Mogilnaya Bay and equipment crawls out of them. Cars shoot, people pour. A few days later, the equipment returns, the landing craft leave, and Kildin falls asleep under a blanket of snow until next spring.

Used sources:
1. Article " secret island Arctic" from the January issue of the journal "Science and Life" for 2013.

This page, which is still very far from completion, contains the memoirs of the Kildins and guests of the island (in alphabetical order). Send us your impressions about the island, stories, stories about life, life, service... Enough space for everyone!!!

AKSENTIEV SERGEY. Kildin Zapadny, 616 obrp, head of the propulsion engines department, deputy. to-ra those. batteries, 1964-1970
Sergey Terentyevich Aksentiev writes about the island with love and for a long time. In addition, there are so many memories that a separate page is devoted to the work of Sergei Aksentiev: here it would be very crowded with his books and stories. The books of the Kildin writer are published in such small print runs that it is almost impossible to find them. Site visitors have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with some works from the author's Kildin cycle - the book "Hopes and Anxiety", stories and essays "Kildin Hermits", "Such a Strange War", "Island and Ships", poems about Kildin - on the page of this section "S.T. Aksentiev". Other works, and the author writes on naval and historical topics, can be found on the personal page of Sergei Aksentiev on the website of the Victor Konetsky Foundation.

BERKIS ARMANDS. Kildin West, military unit 90555, radiotelegrapher.
Armands promises to find time for a more detailed presentation of the features of service in a multinational team on the island of Kildin ... Armands is the author of the largest Kildin photo gallery: more than 40 photos, a link to which can be found on the page "Maps, photos"/.../ Part 3 " Short memories of Armands about Kildin:

"In a year and a half, I got to know all the harsh beauty of the northern nature and, probably, that's why I still like the north more than warm countries. Sometimes, when I went to the northern coast to admire the sea, I thought about what makes people live in such places, but I thought to myself that someday I would definitely return to Kildin ...
In part, the bathhouse was one of the most important buildings. The wooden extension to the bathhouse was built anew every summer, as there was always not enough firewood: at the end of winter, the bathhouse was heated by an extension, first a bathhouse, and then a barracks ...
... In September 1985, there was such a strong hurricane that the roofs of the barracks and the pigsty were blown off. It was said that two pigs were even blown away by the wind! What actually happened to the pigs is unknown, but the pigsty was left empty after that ... "

VOLOSCHUK TATIANA AND VLADIMIR. Vladimir Voloshchuk, Kildin West, military unit 81389, 1972-1979.
We are patiently waiting for Vladimir's memories of his service on the island, and his wife Tatyana, a beautiful woman and mother of three children (the middle one, Kostya, was born on Kildin), wrote her memoirs about her seven-year life on the island...

We came to Kildin in 1972, right after graduating from the SVVMIU college (Holland Bay), Sevastopol. Together with us, Anatoly Chentsov also received a referral there, he also came with his young wife. We got to Kildin by motor ship "Vologda". This is a former lumberjack. Cabin of the 2nd class, metal bunks in two tiers separated by screens. Impressed great. But even more impressive was the landing of passengers in the roadstead, opposite Kildin. “Dora” approached the ship - a large motor boat, on board of which there were two people, a coastal sailor and the head of the dora, red-haired Vasya. "Dora" pressed against the side of the ship, a ladder was lowered onto it and waited for a calm interval, while there was no wave. Passengers supported on the ship by a passenger assistant who is not very sober... (continued >>>)

GERASIMOV ALEXEY. Kildin Vostochny, RTP "Romashka", hydroacoustic department, 1984-1986.
Aleksey is one of the first visitors to the site, who provided and continues to provide moral support to the author and helps in the design of the site. The Kildin photo archive of Alexei can be found at the link on the page "Maps, photos" / ... / Part 1 ". Alexei Gerasimov wrote several short stories-memoirs. Here is an excerpt from one story:

"It was at the beginning of the winter of 1985. The acoustics had been open since the fall. My turn to go to the night. I went out somewhere at half past four. The night was gorgeous. Absolute calm, which is rare for Kildin and quite cold, which didn't happen often either.
The northern lights from horizon to horizon blazed so that if you look at it for a long time, then your head will spin. The silence is complete. At the sea at that time, the fishing season was in full swing. Then the capelin was great. There were two or three mother ships abeam, and RT, MRT, BMRT, etc. fussed around them. The number of fishermen was incredible. From our top, looking at the sea, one might have thought that you were looking at a big city at night, flooded with lights! I had to walk from the command to the post about one and a half kilometers. I go and enjoy all this beauty. And here something happened. On the right, from the darkness, as it seemed to me very slowly, on a “shaving” flight, a ghost flew right at me ... " (continued >>>)

KOLENCHUK DMITRY. Radio expeditions to Kildin Island 1993-2004.

KOMAROV BORIS. Kildin Vostochny, 1978-1983: Deputy commander of the technical battery for political affairs (1978-1981), Deputy commander of the 6th ZRDn for political affairs (1981-1983).

"It was in the year 1981-82.
I, then a senior lieutenant, and this rank, who remembers, is the first in a large and successful (as anyone) career as an officer, and as a political officer of the division. That is, such a wild-growing and very self-confident (in some ways even very) comrade. The road ahead was clear and open. And if it seemed to me to become a marshal after all, it was rather difficult, then the general on my forehead during the morning shave was read very specifically. I had enough cases, like any military officer. It didn't bother me, quite the contrary.
But there was one catch in my service. Those who served in those years will understand. Her name is VISUAL PROMOTION. And now, when I have become an adult, gray-haired and somewhere even a grandfather, these two words plunge me into a dull rage, and the words for which ... "(continued >>>)

MASLOVSKY OLEG. Kildin Vostochny, military unit 70148, Technical Battery No. 1, 1965-1968.
Oleg Vasilievich did military service at Kildin in the distant 60s and was one of the last servicemen of the Soviet Army who served for 3 years. The photo archive of Oleg Vasilievich, posted on the forum "Kildin Island", in the topic "Kildin East 60s", contains more than 100 (!) Rare photographs of the 60s. The stories of Oleg Maslovsky about the service on the island, life and friendship will not leave anyone indifferent.

"... On the first night, standing at the post, I heard quiet voices from the sea. Imagine: a dark night, on the one hand the tundra, on the other the sea, you are alone, and suddenly there are voices. I remember there was no fear, because in the hands of all the same weapon, one interest.I went to the line of a smooth cut to the water and saw two moving silhouettes against the background of the water, which, rustling with pebbles, walked along the coast, talking quietly.When the distance shortened, I realized that these were border guards, in the hands They paid absolutely no attention to me, but I heard a fragment of a phrase that "now to the American and back."
So suddenly I became the owner of a terrible state secret ......"

SELIN VLADIMIR. In 1956-1966 he served on the submarines of the Northern Fleet in various bases. During his service in the North, he repeatedly bypassed Fr. Kildin, both from the north and from the south, through the Kuvshinskaya salma, many times anchored in the Mogilny roadstead ...
Vladimir Terentyevich has his own website "Soviet submariner", where you can get acquainted with the biography of the author in more detail, view materials about the submariners of the Northern Fleet.
Vladimir Selin wrote a short story about his visit to Kildin Island, which is offered to your attention.

“One day in the summer of 1957, I was sent to provide (as a navigator) torpedo firing of submarines of the 161st brigade of the Northern Fleet on a torpedo catcher. The commander of the torpedo catcher, Lieutenant “X”, was on vacation. The midshipman-over-conscript commanded the torpedo catcher. The TL team is small, 5-6 people. Navigator weapons are generally antediluvian, even for those times, and besides, they were also neglected. But the speed ... "(continued >>>)

KHARIN IVAN. Kildin Island, 1982-1986. Senior Operative of the Special Department of the KGB of the USSR - "Chairman of the KGB of Kildin Island", all units of the glorious Kildin Island were in operational control!
Kilda photos of Ivan can be found at the link on the page "Maps, photos/.../Part 4".

IN short story"from the life of an opera" Ivan tells about only one episode of the unpredictable service of a KGB officer. And how many more such episodes that are under the veil of secrecy and are not subject to disclosure? I hopefully put "to be continued" at the end of the story and give the floor to the author...

Kildin Island - this is a part of my life too ... After the nuclear-powered ships, I was transferred to this "Devil's Stone" - a place even more exotic than Gremikha. This island, which became widely notorious only after the sinking of the K-159 submarine, used to be a strictly controlled territory, it was not mentioned anywhere. Now only lighthouses and empty eye sockets of houses remain there, and earlier it was inhabited by cheerful people!
The whole island was in my operational service, and this included coastal rocket and artillery troops, and missile bases, and naval aviation, and observation and communication posts, and much more ...
Kildin Island is replete with many anomalies, sights and mysteries. And the landscapes there are simply amazing, but they cannot be described in words - you must see!...
The service on the island was also unique, since at the same time I had to be both an opera and a priest (in the sense of a priest), to whom they came to confess, and a psychiatrist, relieving stress and depression, especially on a difficult polar night. My service was going well, the inspectors from the fleet were satisfied. They planned to transfer to Severomorsk for a promotion, since two years were expiring, i.e. maximum service life on this island for operatives. But an accident happened...
One of the spring days, a magpie brought me the worst news on its tail ... (continued >>>)

DEAR KILDINS AND KILDINS!
ON THE SITE "ISLE OF KILDIN" THERE IS A PLACE FOR THE MEMORIES OF EVERYONE WHO DEARS KILDIN!

YOU CAN ALSO FIND MANY INTERESTING STORIES ABOUT KILDIN AND ITS PEOPLE ON

Kildin is an island in the Barents Sea, 1.5 km from the Murmansk coast of the Kola Peninsula. In Soviet times, several military units were located here - border guards, air defense, artillerymen and missilemen. Alas, now all parts are closed, and their territory has turned into a real cemetery of military equipment and houses. Let's see what is left on the island after the departure of man.

Upper Kildin village. The beginning of the settlement of the "upper" Kildin in the western part of the island can be considered the first world war when in 1914-1916. The first observation posts were created on the Kola Peninsula. Until 1935, all residents of Upper Kildin were represented only by the personnel of the Kildin-West post and lighthouses. At the end of 1935, the construction of a coastal battery began, consisting of two MB-2-180 towers. Battery staff: 191 people. On the basis of the battery, the 2nd separate artillery battalion was formed, which formed the basis of the infrastructure of the island, as well as the main population of Upper Kildin for the next 15 years. Before the start of the war, the newly formed 6th separate anti-aircraft artillery division was transferred to the island. The main houses at that time were dugouts for personnel. In 1955, the Oad was disbanded, but in the same year, the construction of a coastal missile complex and the creation of the 616th Separate Coastal Missile Regiment began. To protect the infrastructure of the island and the approaches to the Kola Peninsula, an air defense division was deployed on the Western Kildin. The presence of the Separate Coastal Missile Regiment on the island is the heyday of Western Kildin. In 1995, the regiment was withdrawn from Kildin ... At the moment, Upper Kildin is completely abandoned.

Boiler room equipment and artillery tower battery rangefinder

The village of Lower Kildin. The first settlement in the Western Kildin can be attributed to the end of the 16th century. It was then that Van Linschoten, a member of the Barents expedition, compiled a map of Kildin Island and depicted a camp in the west. In the 30s of the twentieth century. active construction of military facilities on the island began. Of particular importance is the western coast of the island, rising to a height of almost 300 meters above the Barents Sea and covering the entrance to the Kola Bay. The newly formed settlement in the west was first called New Kildin. But with the appearance of buildings on the plateau, the settlements in the west were divided and Lower Kildin and Upper Kildin appeared on some maps.

In the pre-war period, roads, barracks to accommodate builders and military personnel, warehouses, rock shelters were built, and the pier was strengthened. In 1938, the construction of a rock shelter began right in front of the pier.

The real heyday of Nizhny Kildin can be considered the arrival of the 616th separate coastal missile regiment on the island. For the delivery of equipment and weapons, the pier was rebuilt, and facilities for the regiment's support services and residential buildings grew near the pier. Small rocket ships could approach the pier for unloading / loading rockets.

The settlement of Nizhny Kildin "died" after the withdrawal of the 616th separate coastal missile regiment from the island.

100mm artillery battery at Cape Byk. There are no guns, the command post is empty.

Around the island, several ships found their last shelter, including the famous wooden tourist ship. sailing yacht"Katarina"

On the eastern part of the island there was a frontier post, part of the S-75 air defense and launch pads for training target missiles, a storage facility for air regenerators for submarines. Now only ruins remain of it all.

Of the active military units on the island, only for the post of observation of the sea - midshipman and ten conscripts.

Zaporozhets commander of the unit.

Someone will say that all these ruins need to be demolished, the iron removed, and the territory cleared. But I don't think I need to touch anything. Let these ruins remain the memory of those who served in these harsh places, let the few tourists see not only beauty wildlife but also get to know this, the other side of the island, despite the fact that it has long been covered with the rust of history.

Kildin Island.

Kildin Island, located off the Murmansk coast, a few miles east of the exit from the Kola Bay, has interested me all my life. I have been here many times while working on the Western and Eastern passenger lines, which for many years served the ships of the Murmansk Shipping Company. At all times of my work, I bit by bit collected all kinds of information about this amazing island, which covered the entrance to the Kola Bay, both in peacetime and in war time. It is not for nothing that the second name of this island has become stronger among the people - the unsinkable aircraft carrier of the Kola Bay. In general, I conducted my long-term investigation into the history of this island and the Kildinskaya Salma Strait, through which we very often passed, following in eastbound. What came of it is for my readers to judge. After all, Kildin Island is also a part of my life.

This is the largest of the islands lying off the Murmansk coast! The island is 17.6 km long and up to 7 km wide. The surface is a hilly plateau, up to 281 m high, composed of sandstones and shales, abruptly ending in the north and west and descending in wide terraces to the south and east. Tundra vegetation. There are three on the island settlements- East Kildin, West Kildin and Upper Kildin. On the island is unique lake Mogilnoe, where both marine and freshwater organisms live.

The island is a mystery! Everything about this island is unusual: the name, geology, landscapes, lakes, history of development, inhabitants...! It is not known, however, the meaning of the word - Kildin. Some researchers believe that it is untranslatable, others, which approximately corresponds to the Dutch "kilted" - "forbid" and, therefore, the name of the island can be interpreted as "Forbidden Place". But all this is just guesswork.

Kildin Island is replete with many anomalies, sights and mysteries. And the scenery there is just amazing. It is located near the mouth of the Kola Bay at the outlet to the Barents Sea. The island has a special geological structure, different from the mainland coast, and landscapes similar to Novaya Zemlya. Nothing grows here, and there are no living creatures except fish and seagulls. According to its landscape, the island is a layered elevated tundra plain. Trees do not grow here, and even trees planted by man do not take root. Only stones, hills overgrown with moss, and dwarf birches. Hurricane winds attack the coast from the Arctic Ocean.

Evidence of the anomaly of Kildin is that above it even the auroras are the brightest and, surprisingly, encircle it around the perimeter, at a time when the aurora is often not visible a little to the side. I personally observed this more than once, since at least once or twice a month I had to see Kildin from the outside during my visits to the Mainland to the village of Granitny to the leadership of the Special Department and back.

The island has long wet winters and damp cold summers. In the short polar summer, even on the “hottest” days, the temperature barely reaches fifteen degrees. Even when the sky is cloudless above the sea, you can always see a thick “cap” of clouds above the island.

The island differs sharply from the mainland in its geological structure. The island is mountainous; the slopes of the mountains are gently sloping, in places covered with mosses and grass. The western and northern shores of the island are high and steep. The height of the northern coast is constantly decreasing from west to east. In the northeastern part of the island there is a deep canyon through which a stream flows. In several places in the north and south of the island, there are small waterfalls on steep slopes. In the southeastern part of Kildin Island, there is a convenient bay for anchoring small ships - Mogilnaya Bay, known since the 16th century. The bay was first mapped by the Barents expedition in 1594. In the 17th-18th centuries. Here were the crafts of the Solovetsky Monastery.

To the east of the bay is Lake Mogilnoye - a relict lake formed about 2000 years ago. A natural mystery is Lake Mogilnoye, located in the southeastern part of the island. It is small in size: 560 meters long and no more than 280 meters wide. The lake is separated from the strait by a narrow strip of land. On bright summer evenings, the lake is unforgettably beautiful - pinkish clouds are reflected in a dark blue pool of stagnant water, framed by low banks overgrown with lush grass. Mogilnaya Bay of Kildin Island on the southeastern tip of the island became famous in the Middle Ages, when ships of seafarers who were looking for a northern route to China and India settled here. This is how Jan Van Linschoten's Map of Mogilnaya Bay and environs (1601) has been preserved. Lake Mogilnoe (with birds) is shown. On the site of the Lapp settlement, the border outpost of Kildin Vostochny is now located.

Lake Mogilnoe is the most unique thing on Kildin Island, it is a relic lake with a soul-chilling name “Mogilnoe”, it is also called a five-story lake. At a shallow depth of the lake, about seventeen meters, there are five different layers of water that do not mix. According to this structure of the lake, that is, the underwater world of flora and fauna is also distributed here, as it were, floor by floor. The layer located at the very bottom is saturated with hydrogen sulfide and is practically uninhabited. Above it is the most beautiful layer. In July-August, its water is cherry-colored. It owes such an unusual color to the purple bacteria living here, which “bloom” at this time of the year. Bacteria serve as a kind of shield, blocking the way up rising from the bottom of hydrogen sulfide. The third layer is like a fragment of the Barents Sea. Even the salinity of the water in it is the same as in the sea. Cod, sea bass, seaweed and sea ​​stars. However, in Mogilny they are several times smaller than their counterparts in the Barents Sea. The fourth layer is sea brine diluted with fresh water. Here is the realm of jellyfish and some crustaceans. At the surface lies a 4-5-meter layer of excellent fresh water. An unusual marine aquarium with a depth of just over 16 meters, has no partitions, and yet its inhabitants do not violate invisible boundaries and never migrate from one layer to another. How did the lake form, how has such a layered balance been preserved in it for centuries? - a riddle over which more than one generation of scientists around the world is struggling. The lake is unique and consists, as I wrote above, of several layers: the top is fresh, the bottom is hydrogen sulfide that kills everything, and in the middle part is salt water with marine fauna !!! The lake is inhabited by the rarest endemic - the Kilda cod, listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, and the lake itself is a Federal natural monument. This section of the island, the bay, the cape and the lake, are called Mogilny. Scientists still cannot solve the mystery of the miracle lake of Kildin Island.

The October Revolution of 1917 took place in Murman quickly and bloodlessly. Already on October 26, 1917, at a meeting of the heads of organizations in Murmansk, it was decided to support all the resolutions of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. And the chief head of the Murmansk fortified area and the detachment of ships of the Kola Bay, Rear Admiral K.F. Ketlinsky telegraphed to St. Petersburg that, with all the persons and institutions subordinate to him, he fully recognizes the authority established by the All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. As in all the camps of Murman, Kildin was organized executive committee, who took control of the life of the islanders.

But soon a civil war began and the military intervention of the White Guards that followed. Already in March 1918, Anglo-French, and a little later, American troops landed in Murmansk. The next two years were years of hard trials. Endless uprisings, strikes, arrests and executions made life common man dangerous, hungry and unpredictable. By the time the interventionists left in August 1920, Murmansk, as its survivors bitterly joked, represented "a city - not a city, a village - not a village." It was not easier for the islanders at that time either, but unlike the Murmansk people, life went on there, although it was difficult, but quite peacefully. In March 1919, the head of the Kildin school of the 1st level, teacher Dmitry Andreevich Kozyrev, reported to the Aleksandrovsky district council that classes were going on as normal, “... on the island there are 20 school-age children, the population is 130 people. The number of students of both sexes is 12 (boys - 4, girls - 8). Students are divided into two groups because some can read and write a little, although they do not meet the requirements for admission to the secondary department. The school gives 28-29 lessons per week. Among the students were the grandchildren of the Norwegian pioneers (Eriksen Alvilda Karlovna, Eriksen Alfred Albertovich, Eriksen Eysten Yalmarovich and Mikueva (Eriksen) Karolina Ivanovna).

In the 19th century there was a project to build a "megalopolis" on Kildin, but in the end only a young couple of Norwegian Eriksen moved to Kildin. Three generations of the Eriksen family lived on the island for about 60 years... At the beginning of the 20th century, the authorities of the region invested considerable sums in the infrastructure of the island. At the same time, the Social Democrats settled on the island under the guise of fishermen and organized a warehouse and transshipment point for the illegal shipment of literature from Norway to Arkhangelsk. In the first years of Soviet power, there were very ambitious plans for the development of the island. In a short time, a fishing artel, an iodine plant, a polar fox fur farm were formed on the island ... By the beginning of the war, the civilian population was relocated to different areas Murmansk region. Many members of the Eriksen family were subjected to repression...

After the establishment of Soviet power in the Arctic, collectivization began. On Kildin, a fish farm "Smychka" was created, which soon became one of the exemplary on the entire Murmansk coast. But the quiet life of the colonists did not last long. Already at the end of the 30s, they all had to urgently leave the island that had become their home ...

Then the military era of Kildin began, which lasted until the early 90s of the last century: observation and communication posts, the first naval battery in the USSR MB-2-180, air defense, first anti-aircraft guns, later missile systems, a coastal missile regiment, a frontier post and the necessary infrastructure to ensure all of the above...

Today, there are practically no inhabitants on Kildin, as in the First World War. From military facilities - observation and communication posts ... But I still believe that someday the exhausted, forgotten and abandoned island will revive its former power!

The fauna of the island is represented by many species of birds, including those listed in the Red Book, and these are not only gulls, but also birds of prey (buzzards, snowy owls). Of the rare plants, radiolus rosea - "golden root" can be distinguished. This general information about Kildin Island.

But my interest in Kildin lies in his connection with the Gulag. On Kildin, I was struck first of all by the lower stone road along which I once walked in 1968. What is this road? I have been looking for an answer for a long time. I read the memoirs of the military, searched on the Internet ... Below, I want to report on some points connecting this unsinkable Russian aircraft carrier with the Gulag, namely, to show how the construction of an excellent stone road was started, which was supposed to connect two points - Kildin West and Kildin East, but they built only one "Golden Kilometer" named after Konstantin Rokossovsky ...

This road was laid along the southern coast of Kildin Island, connecting the eastern and western parts of the island. The name "Road of Life" stuck behind the road. A section of the road 1 km long from the Chernaya River towards East Kildin is lined with smooth cobblestones, and the section is in the middle of the road. Some even compare it with Red Square... But to lay out even several tens of meters of the road on the island with even stones, this is hellish inhuman work! This section of the “Kildin autobahn” was called the “golden kilometer” or “Rokossovsky road” !!! It is strange that the “golden” kilometer starts with nothing and ends with nothing.

I saw a similar stretch of ideal cobblestone road again - in 1987. It is located on the right bank of the Yokanga River. Then, while working as a captain on the ship "Alla Tarasova", I went with the crew on a boat to the mouth of the river for mushrooms. There I saw this road, which was very similar to the “golden kilometer of Rokossovsky”. They said that this road was built during the war by captured Germans ... And this road led to the tundra - from the pier to the military airfield.

The road on Kildin Island was built according to all the rules: a slight slope to the edges of the road, ditches on both sides, footpaths sprinkled with broken slate. After the "golden kilometer" the road is lined with large slate stones sprinkled with small bits of slate chips. Who and when built this road? And how did the name of the great marshal of Victory Konstantin Rokossovsky turn out to be connected with the Kilda road?

And just recently, on the Internet, I found the following information: “Rokossovsky was sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag and sent to a camp in Norilsk”??? So, where did he actually serve his "punishment?" In Norilsk? Isn't it on Kildin?

I learned about the existence of the Kildin camp during a visit to the island in 1993. It is known that any historical event over time acquires bearded rumors and legends. So the locals told me that there were two camps on Kildin: male and female. The men's camp consisted mainly of convicted generals... I heard about the construction of military facilities on Kildin in the prewar years with the participation of prisoners, and I myself guessed about it. I heard that the prisoners were building a battery, roads, an airfield... and other military facilities. The idea of ​​creating a camp on Kildin arose in the 1920s.

In 1926, the case of the "Chubarovtsy" - the case of the gang rape of a girl - was widely publicized. The trial of the Chubarovites in December 1926 became a show trial. Prior to this, a wide campaign was launched in the press, newspapers published candid testimonies of the detainees ... Collective letters to the editor were immediately printed: “Hooligans - with a red-hot iron!”, “Only capital punishment can be for these criminal bandits!”, “Severe We will tear out the nest of hooligan animals from our Red Leningrad with measures! The concept of hooliganism began to be interpreted broadly, now almost all committed crimes were attributed to it. The city authorities seemed to wake up from hibernation and also spoke out for the death penalty for especially malicious hooligans, and in general - punks have no place in Leningrad! At a meeting of the provincial executive committee Comrade Yegorov pointed out to the administrative department that hooligans should be sent out. A project arose to exile them to the uninhabited island of Kildin, wrote Krasnaya Gazeta. But a few days later a letter arrived from the uninhabited island, where a resident of the island, Kildin Kustov, writes: “The island is a fishing center for the population of the Murmansk coast. There is also a permanent population - about 100 people. The island is a reserve of white and blue foxes, with unique natural conditions. People there live only in hope for the future, because we don’t have the present, we don’t need your hooligans on Kildin!

Twenty-seven defendants aged between 17 and 25 appeared before the court in December. Seven were sentenced to death, the rest to various terms of imprisonment in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (SLON), two defendants were acquitted ... But, thank God, the Chubarovites never made it to Kildin Island.

The western end of the road has a clearly laid out border line, it can be assumed that this is the beginning of construction. This place is located just a few meters from the Chernaya River, and the road ends near the old water pump. Thus, the first version that came to mind was the construction of a road to supply water to East Kildin. According to the version of local residents (1993), the head of the camp wanted to distinguish himself by building a model facility on Kildin, but for some reason he could not finish what he started ... Another version: the road was supposed to go to the camp. But where was the camp? Not finding the opportunity to go to the archives of the NKVD-MVD, the search for the Kilda camp was continued by me in the military archives ... On one of detailed maps islands in 1941, all buildings on Kildin were damaged. During the war, the map was labeled "TOP SECRET". The map shows everything, even the smallest buildings. Of the isolated buildings on East Kildin, only iodine burning stoves along the coast, several separate huts in the northeast, and 3 barracks near the Chernaya River, in the eastern part of the island, can be distinguished. It is possible that these 3 barracks were the Kilda camp...? In favor of the eastern version of the location of the camp, the legends transmitted by the Kildins from mouth to mouth also speak. It is strange that the “golden” kilometer starts with nothing and ends with nothing.

There were many graves in the cemetery in the eastern part of the island, which in appearance can be attributed to the burials of camp prisoners: no stars, no crosses, death dates 1939-1953, birth dates 1900-1910 (approximately). Surnames were both male and female. It is known that in those years there were literally a few civilians left on the island.

And yet I managed to find traces of the camp. In the Central Naval Archive (TsVMA), in the documents of the 2nd Separate Artillery Division (2nd ode), there is the following information: “The 2nd OAD of the Murmansk Fortified Area (MUR) of the Northern Fleet was created on the basis of the 10th MUR battery on Kildin Island. Construction began at the end of 1935. Intensive construction of military facilities began on the island. It was built mainly by prisoners of the Kildin camp of the 10th branch of the Belbaltlag. The history of this construction is still shrouded in a dense veil of secrecy. The main construction work was carried out by the Office of the Head of Works No. 97 and 115 Construction Battalion.

So, Office of the Chief of Works No. 97 is a typical official name camps! “In the spring of 1940, a 122-mm mechanically traction battery No. 191 was formed, the place was Vostochny Kildin ... By this moment, the construction of a dirt road for this battery along south coast islands." In May 1941, the construction of a concrete checkpoint (2 oad - DK) began. With the outbreak of war, the accelerated construction of a 130-mm open battery No. 827 began in the east of Kildin Island. They built at an accelerated pace l / s batteries and construction No. -97. It can also be assumed that the airfield in 1942 on Kildin was built by the Office of the Construction Superintendent No. 97.

My assumptions that the Office of the Head of Works No. 97 was the “Kilda camp” dissipated after one meeting with veterans of the 97th construction - this was a division of the Engineering Service of the Northern Fleet. The Kildin veterans well remembered the “prisoner builders” who built the road: “... it seemed that they were all black: black clothes, black beards, black faces and eyes. They eagerly caught every passing person with their eyes, which, perhaps, reminded them of the distant life that they had before the camp ... "

I want to say a little about the village of Upper Kildin. The beginning of the settlement of the "upper" Kildin in the western part of the island can be considered the First World War, when in 1914-1916. The first observation posts were created on the Kola Peninsula. Until 1935, all residents of Upper Kildin were represented only by the personnel of the Kildin-West post and lighthouses. At the end of 1935, the construction of a coastal battery began, consisting of two MB-2-180 towers. Battery staff: 191 people. On the basis of the battery, the 2nd separate artillery battalion was formed, which formed the basis of the infrastructure of the island, as well as the main population of Upper Kildin for the next 15 years. Before the start of the war, the newly formed 6th separate anti-aircraft artillery division was transferred to the island. The main houses at that time were dugouts for personnel. In 1955, the Oad was disbanded, but in the same year, the construction of a coastal missile complex and the creation of the 616th Separate Coastal Missile Regiment began. To protect the infrastructure of the island and the approaches to the Kola Peninsula, an air defense division was deployed on the Western Kildin. The presence of the Separate Coastal Missile Regiment on the island is the heyday of Western Kildin. In 1995, the regiment was withdrawn from Kildin... At the moment, Upper Kildin is completely abandoned.

I have been to Kildin many times, since in Soviet times the passenger ships on which I worked visited Western and Eastern Kildin regularly. Over time, somewhere in the mid-seventies, the call to East Kildin was canceled. And Western Kildin ships of the MMP came until the early nineties. Here, sometimes, the captain allowed some members of the crew to land to collect cloudberries, lingonberries, or pick mushrooms. I also remember those times when we moored to the pier. But it was possible to moor only at full water and in good weather. Moored to this berth only Igaun V.I. on the "grandfather of the passenger fleet" - the steamer "Ilya Repin".

We moored to this pier only once in 1968 on my watch. It was necessary to urgently land a sick soldier on the shore. In order not to wait for the boat, Captain Igaun V.I., given that the high tide had already come, moored the steamer Ilya Repin to this pier. The soldier was rescued...

I would like to bring here another recollection of my good friend who served on the island: “And if you write about the service on the island, it was also unique. Everything went well for me, the inspectors from the fleet were satisfied. since two years were expiring, i.e. the maximum period of service on this island for operatives.

On one of the spring days, forty on the tail brought me the worst news that the newly appointed head of the artillery depots, when accepting the emergency depot (“NZ”) with ammunition, by piece counting the weapons and ammunition that were stored there unmeasured (he poor counted two weeks , as he was outrageously meticulous) discovered a shortage of 2 pistols "PM" ("Makarov Pistol"). According to the then existing canons, such information belonged to the category of “special importance”, was immediately reported to the higher leadership and was taken under strict control (at that time there were already attempts on the astronauts and on Brezhnev). Even then the authorities were afraid of terror.

Immediately after the report to the management about the information received, a sea of ​​​​bosses and inspectors flocked to my island. Who is really to help, who hoped to quickly reveal everything (where the weapons from the island, they say, would go) and earn medals, and who, to put me in the appropriate position (frames). In short, they began to “muzzle” me from all sides: their own, the prosecutor, the political department, representatives of the maritime department, whose weapons were stolen by secret enemies. Many people know how bossy curators help us. And God forbid to be the one they help. And the car turned...

As always, the countdown began with the act of the last inspection of the NZ warehouse. Luckily, it was a short period of time - a couple of months. They went through everything: the guards who visited the warehouses sorted out all the “misunderstandings” such as records when handing over the guards about fuzzy prints of seals, etc. Everything was under control: behavior, conversations, in general, everything, everything. The mouse will not slip through unnoticed without our control. Everyone was under suspicion, some were already ready to confess ...

The curators stayed with me for a month, which caused tangible damage to my salary, although not modest (at that time). snacks and drinks were supposed to be from the culprit, that is, from me. But alas... Neither curatorship, nor intensive work, nor even evening summing up at the table and relieving stress brought any results, they did not even come out on the trail of the kidnappers. The curators realized that they could not earn orders and quietly all disappeared. At the same time, they made it clear that my promotion was covered, as well as the transfer from the island in the near future, and if I don’t find pistols and they seriously pop up somewhere, there may be more serious problems.

Having scratched my then still thick hair and worthily noted the departure of a high-ranking commission in the northern way, I rolled up my sleeves and began to look for intruders, already without the excitement that the curators created, but calmly, methodically - as we were taught. Based on the analysis of all the available information (which was really not enough accumulated in a month), I made a special plan-grid, where I painted, almost in seconds, the whole process from receiving weapons from warehouses in Murmansk (and this was 8 years before my arrival to the island), delivering it on a barge to the island, unloading, etc., etc., and so on until a shortage is discovered. I found all the people involved in all these operations. I was not too lazy to send requests to all the relevant territorial bodies of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to interrogate in detail everyone who, at least in a small fraction, could come into contact with the ill-fated pistols, the NZ warehouse and our Island. I waited a long time for answers, sent reminders. And as in Pushkin's fairy tale "About the Fisherman and the Fish" he threw and threw a net, only not three times, but many, many times. I looked forward to the answers, and all of them brought only disappointment.

More than a year has passed since the discovery of the lack of weapons. Hope melted ... And suddenly the answer from St. Petersburg from the famous "Crosses", where one of the former sailors from the Kildin self-propelled barge was safely soaring on prison bunk for committing some crime. During the interrogation of this former sailor (maybe even with prejudice), it turned out that these pistols were stolen even during the delivery of weapons to the Island. And one of the kidnappers was this one who was serving a sentence for a crime (fortunately, without the participation of our "PMs"). The second kidnapper was also found thanks to the testimony received. And they made it all very easy. Before the departure of the barge already loaded with weapons, the sea began to storm. Which is not uncommon in these parts. The commander of the barge midshipman, taking advantage of the opportunity provided by nature to linger on the mainland in Murmansk, quickly found a girlfriend in the city, and while it was stormy, he did not waste time with her either. And two “demobilizations”, mostly out of boredom and interest, carefully opened the hold, climbed in there and began to build Rimbaud out of themselves, hanging themselves with machine guns, machine guns, pistols ... At the same time, they captured everything in the photo, which they later found in demobilization albums. After playing enough and having fun, they decided to take a pistol with them to a civilian, as in the film "The Diamond Arm" - so "... just in case of a fire." In order not to risk, they hid the pistols in the hold, in case there was a shortage of pistols when laying them in the NZ warehouse, they would have safely “found” them in the hold. There was no risk. However, the loss of weapons at that time was not noticed, and so she waited in the wings (8 years), until the meticulous head of artillery weapons came to the unit. If he had not appeared on the island at that time, perhaps no one would have known about the missing pistols until now, and my fate would have turned out differently. Since then, I have ceased to believe the acts of verification, signed by many people. And for 8 years of inspections of the NZ warehouse, more than a dozen of these acts were filed in the case. And in each, “…weapons and ammunition are fully available. There is no shortage." Here is such a story.
I reported to the top about the materials received on the search for weapons, and there they had long forgotten about this story. A mess was growing in the country, and there were no time for some 2 pistols. Moreover, organizational measures for the “guilty of the loss” of weapons (i.e., me) were already taken a long time ago.

With the beginning of Gorbachev's perestroika, Kildin began to decline in all respects. At this time, various cooperatives began to be created, and people began to put only money and their own benefit in the first place. Warriors and soldiers also tried to snatch their own. They began to steal military equipment, weapons and ammunition and turn them into money ... The same thing happened throughout the Soviet Union, including on the Rybachy Peninsula, the Kola Peninsula and on our "unsinkable aircraft carrier."

In October 1989, I worked as a captain on the motor ship "Kanin", which was on the line Murmansk - Dalnie Zelentsy - Murmansk with a call to Kildin Island. Also, we also went to the port of Kirkenes (Norway), where we delivered our tourists.

During the next call to the Western Kildin, even on the way to the anchorage, we heard shots from machine guns and other weapons. There was a real war going on in the pier area! At the beginning, I didn’t understand anything and thought that the warriors were working out some kind of their next military task. But soon everyone who was on the bridge and deck began to understand that this was not a teaching, but something more serious...

The first settlement on the western part of Kildin can be attributed to the end of the 16th century. It was then that Van Linschoten, a member of the Barents expedition, compiled a map of Kildin Island and depicted a camp in the west of the island. Taking into account the difference between the upper plateau of the island (max. point 286 m) and coastal terraces in the west of Kildin, the buildings near the Kildin Strait were called "bottom". This is how the Lower (Western) Kildin arose. The real years of the heyday of the Lower (Western) Kildin can be considered the arrival of the 616th separate coastal missile regiment (ORP) on the island. For the delivery of equipment and weapons, the pier was rebuilt, and facilities for the regiment's support services and residential buildings grew near the pier. Small missile ships (RTOs) could approach the berth for unloading / loading missiles and delivering the necessary cargo.
The settlement of Nizhny (Western) Kildin "died" after the withdrawal of the 616th unit from the island in 1995.

And it all started like this. The turning point in the life of the island was the decision to create the Northern Military Flotilla on June 1, 1933, according to the Circular of the Chief of Staff of the Red Army. This date is the birthday of SF. On April 15, 1933, the "Special Purpose Expedition" - EON-1, was sent to the North from the Baltic along the White Sea-Baltic Canal, consisting of the destroyers "Uritsky", "Kuibyshev", TFR "Hurricane", "Smerch", submarine "Decembrist" and "People's Volunteer". The expedition arrives safely in Murmansk on August 5th. The construction of a naval base in the city of Polyarny begins. In July 1933, a party and government commission headed by I.V. Stalin inspects the places of the proposed base. The construction of bases and airfields, the creation of coastal defense and a shipbuilding base began, the maritime theater was being developed and equipped.

The strategic location of the island was not left without attention, on which in 1933 there were only two Observation and Communication Posts (PNiS) and civilian enterprises. By the way, the NIS post on the Western Kildin was created during the First World War. For several years, coastal defense batteries, air defense units, machine gun and tank companies, a half-squadron of MBR-2 amphibious aircraft, an infirmary, an airfield, logistics units have been created on Kildin ... The main construction work on the island is carried out by the 97th Construction Directorate of the Engineering Service of the Northern Fleet . In 1935, the construction of the 10th battery began, consisting of two MB-2-180 towers, which later formed the basis of the 2nd Separate Artillery Battalion.

Here - in East and West Kildin, I regularly called on different ships, starting from 1966 and until the mid-90s, when active life on the glorious aircraft carrier island practically ceased ....

I remember Kildin well in 1970-1980. The soldiers at that time were taught not only military affairs, but also told them the history of this island. At political classes, the commander told his soldiers not articles from the “Communist of the Armed Forces”, but told the story of the development of the island. About how William Barents set sail from Kildin to search for the northern sea route to China. How then he wintered on Novaya Zemlya, and died there. How his comrades, having buried the commander, hardly reached Kildin again, where the local Lapps warmed them up, fed them and helped them get to Kola. How the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery founded the village of Monastyrskoe on the Eastern Cape, and the British plundered the churchyard, burned the buildings and killed the monks. Since then, the cape and the bay began to be called Mogilny ...

The commander told many, many interesting things. He considered the Norwegian Eriksen as a model for himself, who, not afraid of difficulties, settled at the end of the nineteenth century on this deserted island with a young wife and two small children. At first they huddled in a shack, which he made from a fin. Over time, he built a solid two-story house on Mogilny, acquired cattle, fishing gear and motorized boots. He became a wealthy, prosperous colonist. Raised eleven children on the island. All Murman called him respectfully "King of Kilda". And these stories of the commander remained in the memory of his subordinates for life ...

And what did Kildin Island look like after the military left it? What did they leave for future generations? What is the environment like in Kildin? Here is the answer of one serviceman from East Kildin, when I asked him about the ecology of the island after the start of the withdrawal of military units from the island: “WHAT IS THE ENVIRONMENT FOR YOU? Then, after all, the soldiers did not know such a word (or did not want to know). If some order and cleanliness were still visible on the territory of the garrisons, then already behind it they began to spoil, dumping military waste wherever possible. After us - the grass does not grow! About the removal of this garbage from the island, then no one even thought about it. To my great shame in front of Kildin, and I was also one of those who did this, without even thinking about the consequences that are shown in modern photographs - essentially an ecological catastrophe of the island. The island is filthy with military garbage to the very, very tomatoes, as they say: "Mom, do not indulge!"

With great interest, I read on the sites very interesting story O. Kildin. Learned a lot for the first time. I looked at a lot of pictures of the current island. And my attitude towards Kildin began to change dramatically. From pride and admiration for him, to pity and resentment for what the military did to him. And here is what I would like to note with regret. This Pearl of the Barents Sea, peaceful beautiful unique island, from the 30s, the Soviet government decided to make the "Outpost for the protection and defense of the Kola Bay and the Kola Peninsula" from any enemy aggression.

Perhaps at that time it was the only correct decision. They began to arm him, biting into the holy ground. Modern, for those times, long-range guns, bunkers were installed on the island, an airfield for aircraft, a road were built. Even some military "wise man" drove tanks there, apparently believing that one of the largest tank battles in modern warfare would take place on Kildin.

And so, armed to the teeth, the island met the war. History gave him unique chance, to prove to everyone that it was not for nothing that the unmeasured means of our impoverished hungry people were swelled into it. And also, to somehow justify the hellish, hard labor for extinction, the undeservedly suffering prisoners of the Kilda camp (I'm sure there were no criminals there), and what kind of prisoners were in the 30s, you know without me. And this could happen when, in full view of Kildin, two German warships shot and sank an unarmed merchant ship. Kildin could, with his two or three shots from 180-millimeter guns, forever and proudly enter military history, as a true stronghold, a stronghold and a real defender of the Motherland.

It was here that Kildin had to show all his power, RYAVKNUV with his guns so that there would be no wet place left from the Germans. They would be smashed to pieces with such formidable weapons. But Kildin was ordered to turn away, and he bashfully kept silent. And then throughout the war, for some reason, he kept his secret innocence. True, information slipped through the press that he nevertheless “contraupled” some kind of submarine. But maybe it was Stalinist propaganda. After all, then they lied in everything, without a twinge of conscience, to raise morale. And we will trample everyone with boots and throw hats. But trouble came, so under the sensitive Stalinist leadership, in six months the Germans reached Moscow, flooding the land with soldier's blood and mass captures of entire armies. Such is our story! But time, apparently, will put everything in its place. Maybe…

After the war, no matter how they tried to fill the island even more and more with more and more modern weapons, it still remained something like - “like a scarecrow”.
And then, at the present time, he was treated worse than ever. All invested funds, destinies and lives of people, everything went to waste. Leaving the island, all military property was thrown, and then, everything left was mercilessly looted and destroyed. What was created here for decades by the sailors and soldiers who served here was subsequently plundered. I believe that the barrel of the 180-millimeter gun that I saw was senselessly cut off by brainless freaks. The sailors who served on these guns, with great pleasure and without any regret, would have kicked him in their asses "for the same tomatoes."

And how much money, as a result of such a criminal mismanagement situation, settled in pants with stripes and their henchmen, one can only guess. Surely, our military red-lamp workers reported to the highest authorities that the funds allocated for the conservation of military equipment were spent for their intended purpose. And for all this mess, during the collapse of the USSR, we must "praise" our first alcoholic president. He slept there, and there he pissed. He's gone to hell! (Although it is not customary to talk badly about the dead). I'm sorry, but my heart has accumulated! He didn't give a damn about a hundred pounds of drunken snot. And the fact that we still cannot clear up the consequences of his reign is his main fault. And the fact that many normal men, such as the fisherman Viktor Viktorovich Kudelya, or the Kilda major Nikolai Savitsky, suddenly found themselves "abroad" of their homeland, is the main fault of the alcoholic president. And the story of Kildin and all that has happened to him lately is just a tiny speck against the backdrop of a huge, abandoned sovereign pile of shit.

And now on the island there is something that can be, and should have been in this peaceful place earlier: a functioning radio post and two lighthouses. Although there is a double-edged sword here. If there were no such past, these memories would not exist! And you don't know which is better. One thing now calms and consoles me that neither air defense services, nor other naval services associated with saber-rattling, will ever again be on Kildin, which means that all the bad things are in the past !!!??? Nature needs a very long time to heal the wounds inflicted on it by man. The main thing is not to interfere and help her in this matter. And burn it, everything bad, with a blue flame, forever and ever. Amen!

P.S. 1. Here's something else about the construction of the golden road: “In the late 80s, I was lucky to communicate with a man who was a naval artilleryman at that time and participated as a military specialist in equipping a coastal battery on Kildin in 1938. He saw how everything was built there, and what the order was ... The road is a punishment for prisoners ... those who did not fulfill the norm went to this site, and instead of sleeping, they paved this path ... everything - exclusively with their hands ... That's why it starts from nowhere and ends nowhere ... ". The exact length of the "golden" road is 837 meters.

2. On May 10, 1935, the construction of a powerful (caliber 180mm) turret artillery battery began on Kildin Island. At the same time, they built open positions for artillery and anti-aircraft installations, a berth for warships on the Western Kildin. In the rocks, metro builders punched adits for future repair shops. On the southern coast, in the area of ​​​​Prigonny Cape, they erected runway for aviation of the Northern Fleet. On the Kildin plateau (about 250 m above sea level), barracks, a residential town (New Kildin) for the military, a base infirmary, a club, a bakery and a bath and laundry plant were set up.

For the uninterrupted delivery of heavy oversized cargo and equipment to construction sites, a paved road was needed. Nature took care of the building material - the draining of the southern coast, completely strewn with granite cobblestones, and the Gulag authorities never had problems with personnel. They had at their disposal both classy military experts, and skilled organizers of production, and skilled workers ... And they knew how to make slaves work in the NKVD. It is today that many thieves and murderers sit in prisons doing nothing. They sit and smile!

Understanding the responsibility of the task and the real threat (in the event of the slightest mistake) to personal safety, the main "master of shoulder affairs" used a hard whip in practice, flavoring it sometimes with soft carrots. In one of the directives of the UNKVD, Beria demanded: “... to personally observe the qualitative selection of contingents ... Send only men - the best production workers, healthy, suitable for hard physical labor in the conditions of the North, with the rest of the term of imprisonment of at least 6 months.
.... Announce to the prisoners that all those who work well in construction will be given an increased bonus. The best drummers and especially distinguished ones will receive benefits in the form of a reduction in terms upon completion of construction. And the best record-breaking drummers will be released ahead of schedule and presented for awards. And in relation to refuseniks, disorganizers of production and the camp regime, the most severe measures will be applied.
People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Commissar of State Security L. Beria.
... For many years, information about the stay of career officers in NKVD prisons and their use in the construction of military facilities in the North was a state secret.

3. ... In January 1961, an emergency happened in the Northern Fleet - a new S-80 missile submarine sank in the Barents Sea north of Kildin Island. The depths of the sea claimed 68 lives. To investigate the circumstances and causes of the death of the boat, a government commission was appointed, headed by the Chief Inspector of the USSR Ministry of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky. At the height of the debate, a respected retired admiral, who had served in the Northern Fleet for many years, asked to speak. And this is what he said: “When we, the officers of the headquarters of the Northern Fleet, went out to sea to the place of the death of the S-80 submarine, Marshal Rokossovsky, who was on the navigation bridge, looked at the gloomy bulk of Kildin passing by, not addressing anyone specifically, thoughtfully said: "Here I built the road"...!?

4. ... Post-war peaceful life on the island was getting better quickly. On East Kildin (Mogilnoye) a fishing trading post started operating. They even tried to breed foxes. The post office and the school were reopened. They built a club, a bathhouse. By the end of 1948, 117 people lived in the village, 38 of them were children. As in the old days, fishermen from all over Murman came to Mogilnaya Bay for summer fishing. The military units left on the island carried out daily service and, as best they could, equipped their simple life. The alternate airfield occasionally met and escorted planes with inspectors.

Only now, hands never reached the end of the construction of the Rokossovsky road. Each commander, cursing her, what the world stands on, considered the road not his "object", and during the periodically occurring spats of the inspecting authorities, he tried to transfer the arrow to a neighbor. The road was dilapidated, and only the paving stones of the golden kilometer, as if in reproach to our eternal carelessness, remained in first-class condition ...

... In the fifties, ships and coastal units of the Soviet Navy received a new type of weaponry - cruise and anti-aircraft guided missiles. And again Kildin became a secret object. The entire civilian population was sent back to the mainland. Now forever! The fishing trading post on the Eastern (Mogilny) Kildin was especially affected. The abandoned village looked like a dead man, who was forgotten to be buried in a hurry by relatives who were leaving. It was at the end of 1966.

5. ... And then troubled times came: in Moscow they hit the "White House" from tanks. Grozny was bombed in Chechnya. In Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet was divided. Soviet troops were urgently withdrawn from Germany, Poland and the Baltic States. On Kildin they anxiously followed the rampant "democracy" and waited in the wings. We didn't have to wait long. In 1994, it was ordered to remove all military units stationed on the south coast from the island. Then it was the turn of the rocket men. The directive came in early May 1995. It ordered to roll up the regiment by August 31, 1995. Take out the ammunition of missiles and fire control systems, and leave everything else forever in the Kildin hills. Send conscript sailors to the North Sea crew. Officers and warrant officers who have the length of service necessary for retirement should be submitted for retirement, and the rest should be sent to the head of the personnel department of the Northern Fleet.

On the night of December 31, 1995, the last officers of the Coastal Missile Regiment left Kildin Island. They left in a hurry, as if retreating. To destroy the overhauled and prepared for a long winter bath and laundry plant, a kindergarten, a basic sailor's club (the pride of the islanders), a boiler room and a power plant, no hand was raised. Barrels of solarium were stacked in neat stacks. The coal was bunkered and covered with old missile covers. Carefully lubricated all the mechanisms of the recently modernized multi-ton launchers. They were lowered into the mines and covered with reinforced concrete roofs - haulers. Locks and casts with seals were hung on all doors, secretly hoping that the “perestroika” frenzy would soon pass and reason would prevail. ...But that didn't happen. In the spring, as soon as the snow melted, dashing guys poured into the secret island with ships, autogens, cranes and tractors. During the short polar summer, they cut out, cut down, packed and took away the goods abandoned by the military. They didn’t forget about the solarium with coal, carefully stored up since autumn...

Leaving foreign lands demobilization, demobilization, demobilization! And wherever you look in these May Days drunken people go everywhere.

(From the memoirs of my comrade, who served on Kildin during the dispersal of the military in the mid-90s). - And we lodged on Mogilny. We had a sailor's barracks there, and a couple of houses for permanent staff. In the early nineties, after the collapse of the Union, a mass exodus of the military from the island began. They left as if they were retreating. They threw everything - equipment, property, towns. In this universal bedlam, they forgot about us. And we remained on the island as a tribe of aborigines - on our own. God is high, far from the authorities. And the authorities don't care about us. He has his own problems... Believe it or not, they barely survived the winter. There was no autumn delivery: - no solarium, no coal, no products. They collected driftwood along the shore, dismantled empty houses for firewood. They ate whatever they had to. Thanks to the fishermen - they did not let me die of hunger. Well, let alone military service and say nothing. What the hell is the service, if the sailors are worse than the homeless - ragged, unwashed, hungry. Somehow they went to the watch, thank God. The commander is a divorced drop. The military rank has already passed two terms. A frank “bolt” scored on everything. We never saw him sober. In the spring he departed for Severomorsk. And ends...

And now on the island (for more than 15 years) "metalworkers" are disfiguring military relics that should be proud of, robbing towns, destroying graves and monuments to the first settlers... The tormented island is quietly and completely dying, no longer believing in its revival.

It is a pity that so many villages where I was in the north are no longer on the map, but there are only their ruins, desolation and devastation! And how many such islands and islets that no one needs and forgotten are scattered throughout Russia !!! Yes, you just go out into the outback even today and see how many collective farms and villages have been plundered around and no longer needed by anyone ... Oh, RUSSIA !!!

It's sad to see pictures like this around. It's sad for several reasons: 1. Our country spent the same amount on the fact that in the end it was all to be abandoned. Does the question come up right away? And was it necessary to do all this? 2. People who spent there best years your life, it turns out, wasted your life for nothing? Is it possible to live in peace after all this? And by and large, only two bastards from the party are to blame for this - the marked Mishka Humpbacked and the alcoholic Yeltsin! Creatures!

I don't know if it would be appropriate to post this story of mine about the tragedy that took place in October 1989 on the island of Kildin and you, my readers, can judge. But since he began to talk about the island, then this story cannot be kept silent. This short story of mine will be based on the memories of the direct participants in those real events. Surnames and first names, which are not fictitious, but slightly changed for aesthetic reasons. With the exception of one - Captain 3rd rank Fost Dmitry Ivanovich, who bravely fulfilled his officer's duty. I'll omit the part numbers as well.

On the eve of the celebration of the Constitution Day of the USSR on October 7, 1989, a fire broke out in the weapons depot of one of the military units of Kildin Island. After its liquidation, an audit was scheduled at the warehouse, as a result of which a shortage of 4 machine guns, bayonet-knives for them, a box of F-1 grenades, two zinc cartridges (1800 pieces) was revealed. Clearly theft. Yes, and with a careful study of the causes of the fire, traces of deliberate arson of the warehouse were revealed, as well as the intent to cover up the traces of the theft itself by exploding ammunition. Namely, a container from under a combustible liquid, the remains of a candle and a grenade with a pulled out ring and a check taped to the fuse with electrical tape. That is, as the candle burns out, the flame should have spread to the fuel, then burn the electrical tape on the fuse. And from the subsequent explosion of the grenade, the ammunition stored in the warehouse was supposed to detonate, and there ... more ... more ... and more ... The Lower Town could, in theory, not remain at all. Unless you assume more ... The alarm was also turned off, there were traces of sawing the shackle of the lock.

The incident was immediately reported to the authorities, after which representatives of the KGB, the military prosecutor's office, and the command arrived on the island. The personnel of the garrison were sent to the barracks. Two BODs entered the Kildinskaya salma, sailors and officers from which began a systematic combing of the surroundings of the warehouse and the entire island. Shmon was serious, but it was all in vain. There were no traces of weapons. When examining the scene of the incident, pieces of electrical tape, a hacksaw with special signs, a small piece of paper with traces of fresh blood were found near the warehouse.

On October 11, during a lunch break, when the KGB representatives and the command departed for lunch. Before leaving for lunch, the command announced to the personnel that after it there would be a general formation for inspection for wounds or other injuries. And one of the employees of the prosecutor's office managed to get a confession from the signalman Andriyanov O.A., who turned off the alarm at the time of the theft of weapons. He also named the direct participants in the crime: foreman 1st article Pavlenko and senior sailor Nurutdinov.

Unfortunately, the information that Andrianov had split and handed over his accomplices very quickly spread among the garrison. Realizing that they had been exposed, Pavlenko and Nurutdinov left the location of the unit, took weapons and ammunition hidden in a dump near Cape Byk. After that, we headed towards the pier, in order to get unnoticed on passenger ship"Canin" or some other vessel. However, their plans were not destined to come true. An armed officer's post was put up on the pier in advance. Then Pavlenko and Nurutdinov did not come up with anything better than to seize a car and, against the backdrop of general turmoil, drive to the pier located on East Kildin.

Along the seashore, they went unnoticed to the Lower residential town, where at that time a ZIL-131 car with boxes of vegetables and barrels of pickles loaded in the back was parked near the house. Under the threat of weapons, they threw the young driver out of the car, after which they entered the entrance of a residential building in order to take the wife of the Kilda special officer hostage. But she was not at home, and the wife of Lieutenant Mizin, Yulia, came out of the neighboring apartment at the knock. Lieutenant Mizin himself was on vacation in Sevastopol at that time, but Yulia was not released with him, because. she just got a job as a librarian in the unit. Many sailors and officers specially signed up for the library just to talk to Yulia. Some special beauty was the hostess of the library.

Sitting in the cab of the car, together with the hostage, they proceeded towards East Kildin, past the pier with floating craft standing on it. At this time, the search for Pavlenko and Nurutdinov had already begun in the unit. After the report of the driver about the theft of the car, an alarm was announced and an alert was made to all parts of the island. All women and children were gathered in isolated rooms. Armed guards were assigned to them. So, as the road to Vostochny was also blocked, having set up an armed post, the criminals, along the old military road, through the hills, headed towards the combat positions of the OBRP. After some time, the car appeared in the area of ​​the car park, and from there the criminals headed towards the upper residential town.

Unfortunately, the untimely notification due to the lack of mobile communications they did not allow to notify the barrier set up in the Voenkor area. As a result of this, the car with the criminals and the hostage, having passed the upper town without hindrance, came out to the barrier from an unexpected direction. Having approached at low speed, they broke through the barrier and headed down. They were followed by fire. Hearing the shots, the commander ordered the armed groups to take up positions in the area where the unit was located. The group commanders were ordered to use weapons only in a situation that ensures the safety of the hostage. Going straight down, bypassing the serpentine, the car at a slow speed drove through the economic territory of the unit and headed towards the lower town. At the turn of the road to the residential buildings there was already a barrier, the officers of which demanded to stop, get out of the car, lay down their weapons and surrender.

Ignoring the demand to stop, the criminals increased their speed, and, shooting at the open window from a machine gun, throwing grenades, broke through towards the pier. Following the car, machine-gun fire was opened. At the beginning of the descent of the road to the pier, there was a barrier of conscripts with a midshipman at the head. Trying to stop the car, midshipman Gamko Boris jumped onto the footboard of the car from the passenger side. Pavlenko, who was sitting at the door, put a machine gun out of the open window and opened fire.

Falling off the footboard, Midshipman Gamko returned pistol fire. With aimless shots, through the rear wall of the cabin, Pavlenko was wounded. Under heavy fire from sailors and officers, Nurutdinov increased speed and directed the car to the pier. At that moment, a grenade without a check fell out of the hand of the wounded Pavlenko and exploded on the cabin floor. Nurutdinov lost control of the car, and the car crashed into concrete slabs stacked by builders at the checkpoint of the pier. Negotiations began with Nurutdinov. The captain of the 3rd rank Dmitry Ivanovich Fost conducted the negotiations, remaining in one shirt, demonstrating the absence of weapons, he settled down on the hood of the broken car. He managed to persuade Nurutdinov to allow Yulia Mizina, who had been killed and wounded in the head, to be taken out of the cab of the murdered Pavlenko and wounded in the head. Yulia was immediately sent by car to the upper town in the 75th infirmary. She bled to death on the way. Negotiations with Nurutdinov lasted about an hour and a half. All this time he was holding a grenade in his hand without checks.

Fost managed to convince Nurutdinov, in exchange for a Makarov pistol, to throw a grenade into the sea. However, even here Nurutdinov showed cunning, refused the proposed barrel, demanded another. When he received the required (PM) and threw a grenade, he was tied up. He wanted to fire the PMa since he was also a specially trained soldier.

At this time, due to the lack of normal communication and notification, it led to the fact that the sentry guarding the technical territory on a tower near the road fired at a water carrier that was heading to residential building. The senior car was wounded by a single automatic shot.

There were no overlays. From one of the posts there was information that the fire was fired in the same way from the back of the car. And then a man in civilian clothes with a machine gun at the ready jumped out of there and disappeared into the hills. The rumor about the presence of the fourth criminal arose after the participants in the barrier near the lower town thought that someone had jumped out of the body of a broken car and disappeared into the darkness. In the morning, a special group was delivered to the island by helicopter. The servicemen of the garrison “chased the shadow” for two more days. The commander of the unit, despite the short duration of his tenure, was removed by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense and appointed head of artillery in another unit. The surviving criminals Nurutdinov and Andrianov were convicted.

All this was later told to me by my acquaintance of the special officer, who directly took part in the above events. After the interrogations of Nurudinov and Andrianov, it became clear that these criminals planned to seize the Kanin ship in order to get to neighboring Norway on it. Knowing that we had already begun to go to Norway at that time, they, under fear of the execution of the captain - i.e. me, planned to demand that the ship proceed to the port of Kirkenes, where they wanted to apply for political asylum. Thank God that the criminals did not get on our glorious ship! Otherwise, I might not have had to write these lines.

A military acquaintance gave me this poem, written by him.

Kildin Island is just a point on the map, open to the winds.
Character was forged on it, as in Sparta - after all, the service was harsh there.
We cannot forget your beauty. The cry of seagulls in bird markets,
Road "paving stones", polar night. And a day without end and beginning...
Your “Chests”, “Mogilny”, fishing from the pier come to mind.
Fog, snow and friends sailors ... What a pity, not to return everything from the beginning.
You feel the gaze of these Northern waters, the variability of wild nature.
Danger, the severity of the polar latitudes, the insidiousness of the winds and weather.

With this, I already wanted to end my story about the unsinkable aircraft carrier of the USSR, but at the end of August 2010, when I was already living in Borovichi, information was shown on TV about the start of major exercises in the Barents Sea. But what about Kildin? Is the unsinkable aircraft carrier left useless? After all, this is the best place for firing at the "enemies" of the Barents Sea. I waited for the development of events and waited ...

P.S. P.S. September 2010 Kildin, don't forget! And even very much remembered! Two S-300 complexes were temporarily brought in and fired towards the Barents Sea. Still, everything is visible from the North Kildin very far - perhaps even to the very North Pole!

There has been a lot of talk lately about the revival of Russia. But a society corrupted and poisoned by Gorbachev's demagoguery, Yeltsin's unscrupulousness and Chubais' grabbing is still inert and unspiritual. Watching indifferently how greedy non-humans, devoid of conscience and civic duty, who crossed the line of memory, shamelessly rob the graves of their fathers ... And until we understand that Great Russia cannot be created without methodical education in new generations of sincere patriotism, high spirituality, disinterested love for the Motherland, respectful attitude towards the graves of fathers - desecration of the memory and history of the country will continue ...

Longing and devastation is all that remains of Kildin today. Will there be a revival?

Now Kildin was covered with a dense cloud - a purple cloud of grave anguish.
Only the whistling of a blizzard, but prickly frost, and torn pieces of gloomy thoughts ...

In July last summer, I was lucky enough to spend a week on Kildin Island, perhaps the most mysterious and unusual island in the Barents Sea. I was very lucky with the weather - before my arrival there was an extremely unusual heat for those places at plus thirty degrees. I walked around the island, both on the surface and in the depths, picking berries, fishing, sailing in a boat. In addition, I had a task to obtain photographic material for a scientific collection dedicated to the history of Soviet fortification. In this article I will tell you about the history of the island, show the landscapes of northern nature and its inhabitants. There will also be photographs of military ruins, but I will allow them to be emphasized in subsequent materials.

Much in it surprises scientists. For example, the rocks of the island form a multi-layered slate cake, but the opposite coast of the Kola Peninsula consists of granite. Only the Rybachy Peninsula has a layered structure, but there are many tens of kilometers to it. Kildin is small - seventeen kilometers long, seven wide, but on these seven kilometers several natural zones manage to coexist. The northern coast of the island is steep and precipitous, with two-hundred-meter cliffs, stones covered with silvery moss, and small lakes. The southern and eastern shores descend to the water in gentle terraces; polar shrubs and tall grass grow here.

1,2 - Views of Cape Byk - the western tip of the island. From here, steep and high layered cliffs begin and go along the entire northern coast.

3 - Cape Bull. The boundary between the flat and steep zones.

4.5 - North coast of the island. The radio tower on the left side of the picture is a sea observation post.

6 - Terraces of the south coast wrapped in night fog. In general, fog over the island is quite common, milky thick and impenetrable.

7,8,9 - Landscapes typical of the northern part of the island. Terraces hide the true distance to objects. It seems that the sea is very close, but as soon as you walk a little, another step opens, invisible from above.

10.11 - Small fresh lakes scattered throughout the island. In summer, geese, ducks and partridges nest here.

12,13,14,15 - South coast, facing the narrow strait between the mainland and the island. In the center of the strait is
the tiny island of Maly Kildin or, as the locals call it, Kildinyonok.

A similar zonality, starting from the bowels, also occurs under water. Lake Mogilnoye consists of three layers of water that never mix. The uppermost layer is fresh, inhabited by freshwater fish. The layer below it has a salinity similar to that of the surrounding sea. And at the very bottom reigns the world of hydrogen sulfide, separated from the salt water by a layer of bacteria that do not allow hydrogen sulfide to rise to the surface.

16,17,18 - The lake is separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land.

19,20,20a - A year ago, in a storm, the transport vessel Bereg Nadezhda was washed ashore, carrying drilling equipment to Chukotka. Soon, the cargo was removed, and the ship was abandoned, considering the reduction from stones to be unprofitable. So it stands, attracting robbers and tourists.

A hundred and fifty years ago, the Saami, the indigenous people of the Kola Peninsula, every summer drove reindeer herds to Kildin, and fairs grew in the east of the island, in a bay convenient for ship parking. Furs, fat, river pearls, fluff and fish were brought from Russia. In return, Dutch and Scandinavian merchants brought wine, spices, textiles and metal. From here, in 1594, William Barents went on a campaign, looking for a northern route to China and India.

21,22,23 - The coast in the area of ​​the former fairs.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery built a camp on the island and established year-round fishing. But the government did not care about the remote island, and in 1809 English robber ships came to Kildin, sank fishing boats, destroyed and burned the settlement, killing all the inhabitants, dumping the corpses into the lake. Since then, it has received the name Mogilnoye, like the bay.

24.25 - Mogilnaya Bay now. At the mooring barrel are the yachts of the Murmansk Yacht Club.

26,27,28,29 - Automatic beacon and old power line, next to Lake Mogilny. In the last third of summer, purple Ivan-tea blooms densely on the island.

In the second half of the 19th century, the government finally became interested in the island, issuing large benefits for those who want to settle. They promised not to collect duties for several years, to allocate free timber for the construction of houses and ships, and exemption from recruitment duty. In addition to the Russians, foreigners also rushed to the island, who quickly settled down and established a household.

30-36 - Diverse flora and fauna of the island. In 2009, a bear even sailed from the mainland, terrifying fishermen and tourists.

After the October Revolution and the Civil War, as a result of the redistribution of state borders, trade communication with the island was sharply reduced, and in 1931 the nationalization of the property of the islanders began. The Norwegians were forced out of the island, and in 1939, all the remaining inhabitants. The Gulag was built, the prisoners of which began the construction of a 180-millimeter turret artillery battery. At a depth of many meters, in the thickness of the stone, terraces and rooms were built. Berths for warships, an airfield, buildings of a military camp were built at an accelerated pace.

37 - The only paved road on the island built by prisoners.

38, 39 - Piedmont ammunition depots.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the island turned into a military fortress with tower and open artillery batteries, an air defense division, a machine-gun and tank company, radar stations, an airfield, communication and observation centers, and an infirmary. But, despite such great firepower, during the war years Kildin did not fire a single shot.

40,41,42 - In the bowels of a 180 mm turret artillery battery.

After the victory, some of the weapons were taken to the mainland, reviving the fishing base on the island. This continued until the 50s, and then underground construction began again. Huge trenches were dug in the rocks, in which concrete premises of future stationary missile systems were built. Underground command posts were erected nearby, and on the south coast, piedmont storage facilities for torpedoes and other weapons.

43,44,45 - Remains of P-35 anti-ship cruise missiles, missile mock-up, transport trolleys.

And dragged on for many years, consisting of planned and unannounced checks, firing, fresh mail, political activities and waiting for orders. With the commissioning of the Orbita space system, a TV set came to the island, and on weekends a movie was shown in the sailor's club. And then the huge country fell apart. The withdrawal of troops and the reduction of units began. The hour struck in 1994 and the night of December 31, 1995, the last rocket officer left the island, and in the spring, when the snow had just melted, other people came. People with autogens, cranes and tractors.

Now only ruins remained from the past life on the island, gradually absorbed by nature. Of the military units, there are only two posts for monitoring the sea - ten conscripts, a midshipman, and a contract driver. Naval "shovels" regularly bring them coal, and exercises are held every August.

46,47,48,49 - Navy ships serving the garrison of the island. Transport "Pechora", sea tug, small landing ship.

Every year the big bosses come to approve the place for shooting. Every year it's the same. Then three BDKs enter Mogilnaya Bay and equipment crawls out of them. Cars shoot, people pour. A few days later, the equipment returns, the landing craft leave, and Kildin falls asleep under a blanket of snow until next spring.

Used sources:
1. Article "The Secret Island of the Arctic" from the January issue of the journal "Science and Life" for 2013.