Abandoned military equipment on Kildin Island (48 photos). Abandoned military camps on the island of Kildin Rtb on the island of Kildin Western

Kildin Island.

The island of Kildin, 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, working on the Western and Eastern passenger lines, which served the ships of the Murmansk Shipping Company for many years. Throughout my work, I piece by piece collected all kinds of information about this amazing island, which covered the entrance to the Kola Bay, both in peacetime and in wartime. It is not for nothing that the second name of this island has become popular among the people - the unsinkable aircraft carrier of the Kola Bay. In general, I conducted my many years of research into the history of this island and the Kildinskaya Salma Strait, through which we very often passed, traveling in an easterly direction. What came out of this 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 length of the island is 17.6 km, width up to 7 km. The surface is a hilly plateau, up to 281 m high, composed of sandstones and shales, steeply plunging in the north and west and descending in wide terraces to the south and east. Tundra vegetation. There are three settlements on the island - Eastern Kildin, Western Kildin and Upper Kildin. The island is home to the unique Lake Mogilnoye, which is home to both marine and freshwater organisms.

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 that it roughly corresponds to the Dutch “kilted” - “to prohibit” 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, attractions and secrets. And the landscapes there are simply amazing. It is located near the mouth of the Kola Bay at the exit to the Barents Sea. The island has a special geological structure and landscapes different from the mainland coast, similar to Novaya Zemlya. Nothing grows here, and there are no living creatures except fish and seagulls. In terms of its landscape, the island is a stratified elevated tundra plain. Trees do not grow here, and even trees planted by humans do not take root. Only stones, hills overgrown with moss, and dwarf birch trees. Hurricane winds attack the coast from the Arctic Ocean.

Evidence of the anomaly of Kildin is that even the auroras above it are the brightest and, surprisingly, encircle its perimeter, while slightly to the sides the auroras are often not visible at all. 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 in the village of Granitny to the leadership of the Special Department and back.

The island has long, wet winters and damp, cold summers. During the short polar summer, even on the “hottest” days, the temperature barely reaches fifteen degrees. Even when the sky is cloudless over 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 mountain slopes are gentle, 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 constantly decreases 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 south-eastern 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 approximately 2000 years ago. Lake Mogilnoe, located in the southeastern part of the island, is a natural mystery. It is small in size: 560 meters in length and no more than 280 meters in width. 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 the dark blue pool of stagnant water, framed by low banks overgrown with lush grass. Mogilnaya Bay on the Kildin Island on the southeastern tip of the island became famous back in the Middle Ages, when ships of seafarers who were looking for a northern route to China and India settled here. This is how the Map of Mogilnaya Bay and the surrounding area by Jan Van Linschoten (1601) has been preserved. Lake Mogilnoe (with birds) is shown. On the site of the Lapp village, the Kildin Vostochny border outpost is now located.

Lake Mogilnoye is the most unique thing on the island of Kildin, it is a relict lake with the soul-chilling name “Mogilnoye”, it is also called five-story. At a shallow depth of the lake, about seventeen meters, there are five different layers of water that do not mix. In accordance with this structure of the lake, that is, the underwater world of flora and fauna is also distributed here, as if 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 its unusual color to the purple bacteria that live here and “bloom” at this time of year. Bacteria serve as a kind of shield, blocking the path upward to hydrogen sulfide rising from the bottom. 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 starfish live here. 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 kingdom of jellyfish and some crustaceans. At the surface there is a 4-5 meter layer of excellent fresh water. This unusual marine aquarium is a little more than 16 meters deep, has no partitions, and yet its inhabitants do not violate invisible boundaries and never migrate from one layer to another. How was the lake formed, how has such a layered balance been maintained in it over the centuries? is a mystery that has grappled with more than one generation of scientists around the world. The lake is unique and consists, as I wrote above, of several layers: the top is fresh, the bottom is hydrogen sulfide, which kills everything, and in the middle part there is salt water with marine fauna!!! The lake is home to a rare endemic species - the Kilda cod, listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, and the lake itself is a Federal natural monument. This part of the island, the bay, cape and lake, is 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 leaders of organizations in Murmansk, a decision was made to support all resolutions of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. And the chief commander 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 power established by the All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. As in all Murman camps, an executive committee was organized on Kildin, which took control of the life of the islanders.

But soon the civil war began and the subsequent White Guard military intervention. Already in March 1918, Anglo-French and a little later American troops landed in Murmansk. The next two years were years of difficult trials. Endless uprisings, strikes, arrests and executions have made the life of the common man dangerous, hungry and unpredictable. By the time the interventionists left in August 1920, Murmansk, as its surviving inhabitants bitterly joked, was “a city - not a city, a village - not a village.” Life was no easier for the islanders at that time, but unlike the Murmansk residents, life there, although difficult, was quite peaceful. In March 1919, the head of the Kildinsky school of the 1st level, teacher Dmitry Andreevich Kozyrev, reported to the Aleksandrovsk district government 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 (4 boys, 8 girls). The 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 Eisten Yalmarovich and Mikueva (Eriksen) Karolina Ivanovna).

In the 19th century there was a project to build a “megacity” on Kildin, but in the end only a young Norwegian couple, the Eriksens, 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 region's authorities invested considerable sums in the island's infrastructure. At the same time, 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 factory, and an arctic fox animal farm were formed on the island... By the beginning of the war, the civilian population was resettled to different areas of the Murmansk region. Many members of the Eriksen family were subjected to repression...

After the establishment of Soviet power in the Arctic, collectivization began. The Smychka fish collective farm was created on Kildin, which soon became one of the exemplary fish farms 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 their native island...

Then began the military era of Kildin, which lasted until the beginning of the 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 border outpost and the necessary infrastructure to ensure all of the above...

Today there are practically no inhabitants on Kildin, as in the First World War. Among the 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 seagulls, but also birds of prey (buzzards, snowy owls). One of the rare plants that can be distinguished is Radiola rosea - “golden root”. This is general information about Kildin Island.

But my interest in Kildin lies in its 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 kind of road is this? I've 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 Western and Kildin Eastern, 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” was assigned to the road. A section of the road 1 km long from the Chernaya River towards East Kildin is lined with smooth cobblestones, with the section in the middle of the road. Some even compare it to Red Square... But to pave even a few tens of meters of the road on the island with even stones is hellish inhuman work! This section of the “Kilda Autobahn” was called the “golden kilometer” or “Rokossovsky road”!!! It’s strange that the “golden” kilometer begins with nothing and ends with nothing.

I saw a similar section of perfect cobblestone road again - in 1987. It is located on the right bank of the Yokanga River. Then, working as a captain on the motor ship "Alla Tarasova", I went with the crew on a boat to the mouth of the river to pick mushrooms. There I saw this road, which was very similar to Rokossovsky’s “golden kilometer”. They said that this road was built by captured Germans during the war... And this road led into 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, pedestrian paths sprinkled with broken shale. After the “golden kilometer” the road is made of large slate stones, sprinkled with small broken shale chips. Who built this road and when? And how did the name of the great Marshal of Victory Konstantin Rokossovsky become associated 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 Kilda camp during a visit to the island in 1993. It is known that any historical event over time becomes overgrown with rumors and legends. So local residents told me that there were two camps on Kildin: men’s and women’s. The men's camp consisted mainly of convicted generals... I had heard before about the construction of military facilities on Kildin in the pre-war years with the participation of prisoners, and I myself had guessed about it. I heard that prisoners built a battery, roads, an airfield... and other military facilities. The idea of ​​creating a camp on Kildin arose back in the 20s.

In 1926, the case of the “Chubarovites” - the case of the gang rape of a girl - was widely publicized. The trial of the Chubarovites in December 1926 became a show trial. Before this, a wide campaign was launched in the press, newspapers published frank testimonies of detainees... Collective letters to the editor were immediately published: “Hooligans - with a hot iron!”, “Only capital punishment can be for these criminal bandits!”, “Severe We will take measures to tear out the nest of hooligan animals from our Red Leningrad!” The concept of hooliganism began to be interpreted in an expanded manner; now almost all crimes committed were attributed to it. The city authorities seemed to have woken up from hibernation and also spoke out in favor of the death penalty for especially malicious hooligans, and in general - punks have no place in Leningrad!” At a meeting of the provincial executive committee, head. the administrative department, Comrade Egorov, indicated that hooligans should be expelled. A project arose to exile them to the uninhabited island of Kildin, wrote Krasnaya Gazeta. But a few days later a letter arrived from an 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 there - 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 a present, we don’t need your hooligans on Kildin!”

Twenty-seven defendants, ranging in age from 17 to 25, appeared in 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 marked boundary line, suggesting that this is the start of construction. This place is located just a few meters from the Chernaya River, and the road ends not far from 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 local residents (1993), the head of the camp wanted to distinguish himself by building an exemplary 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? Having found no way to access the archives of the NKVD-MVD, I continued my search for the Kildin camp in the military archives... On one of the detailed maps of the island in 1941, all the buildings on Kildin were marked. During the war, the card was marked “TOP SECRET”. The map shows everything, even the smallest buildings. Of the isolated buildings on Eastern Kildin, the only ones that can be distinguished are furnaces for burning iodine along the coast, several separate huts in the northeast, and 3 barracks near the Chernaya River, in the eastern part of the island. It is possible that these 3 barracks were the Kilda camp...? Legends passed on by word of mouth from Kildinians also speak in favor of the eastern version of the location of the camp. It’s strange that the “golden” kilometer begins with nothing and ends with nothing.

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

And yet I managed to find traces of the camp. In the Central Naval Archive (CVMA) in the documents of the 2nd Separate Artillery Division (2 od) 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 battery of the MUR on the island of Kildin. Construction began at the end of 1935. Intensive construction of military facilities began on the island. The construction was mainly carried out by prisoners of the Kilda camp of the 10th department of the Belbaltlag. The history of this construction is still covered in a thick veil of secrecy. The main construction work was carried out by the Office of the Chief of Work No. 97 and the 115th Construction Battalion.”

So, Office of the Chief of Works No. 97 is the typical official name of the camp! “In the spring of 1940, a 122-mm battery No. 191 was formed on mechanical traction, the location was East Kildin... By this time, construction of a dirt road for this battery had begun along the southern coast of the island.” In May 1941, construction began on a concrete command post (2nd building - recreation center). With the beginning of the war, accelerated construction of the 130-mm open battery No. 827 began in the east of Kildin Island. L/s batteries and construction of No. 97 were built at an accelerated pace. It can also be assumed that the airfield in 1942 on Kildin was built by the Office of the Head of Construction No. 97.

My assumptions that the Office of the Chief of Work No. 97 is the “Kilda camp” dissipated after one meeting with veterans of the 97th construction - this was a unit of the Northern Fleet Engineering Service. The Kilda veterans remembered well the “construction prisoners” who were building the road: “... it seemed that they were all black: black clothes, black beards, black faces and eyes. They eagerly caught the eye of every person passing by, who perhaps reminded them of the distant life they had before the camp...”

I would like to say a little about the village of Verkhniy 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 staff of the Kildin-West post and lighthouses. At the end of 1935, construction began on a coastal battery consisting of two MB-2-180 towers. Battery staff: 191 people. On the basis of the battery, the 2nd separate artillery division was formed, which formed the basis of the island’s infrastructure, 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 RAD 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 stationed on Western Kildin. The presence of the Separate Coastal Missile Regiment on the island marks 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 cancelled. And MMP vessels visited Western Kildin until the early nineties. Here, sometimes, the captain allowed some crew members to disembark to collect cloudberries, lingonberries, or pick mushrooms. I also remember those times when we moored to the pier. But mooring was only possible in full water and in good weather. Only V.I. Igaun moored to this pier. on the “grandfather of the passenger fleet” – the steamship “Ilya Repin”.

We moored to this pier only once in 1968 on my watch. It was urgent to land the sick soldier ashore. In order not to wait for the boat, captain V.I. Igaun, taking into account that the high tide had already arrived, moored the steamer “Ilya Repin” to this pier. The soldier was saved...

I would like to cite here another memory of a good friend of mine who served on the island: “And if you write about the service on the island, it was also unique. Everything went well with me, the inspectors from the fleet were happy. They planned to transfer me to Severomorsk for a promotion, since two years were expiring, i.e. the maximum period of service on this island for operatives. But an opportunity happened...

One spring day, a magpie on its tail brought me the worst news that the newly appointed head of artillery depots, when accepting an emergency stockpile (“NZ”) warehouse with ammunition, by piecemeal counting of weapons and ammunition, which were stored there indefinitely (he poor man counted for two weeks , since he was outrageously meticulous) discovered a shortage of 2 “PM” pistols (“Makarov Pistol”). According to the then existing canons, such information was classified as “special importance”, immediately reported to higher management and taken under strict control (at that time there were already attempts on both the cosmonauts and Brezhnev). The authorities were afraid of terror even then.

Immediately after reporting to management about the information received, a sea of ​​bosses and inspectors flocked to my island. Some really to provide assistance, some hoping to quickly reveal everything (where would the weapons go from the island, supposedly) and earn medals, and some to put me in the appropriate position (frames). In short, they began to “puzzle me” from all sides: their own people, the prosecutor, the political department, representatives of the naval department, whose weapons were stolen by secret enemies. Many people know how our superior supervisors provide assistance. And God forbid you end up being the one they help. And the car started spinning...

We started, as always, from the report of the last inspection of the NZ warehouse. Fortunately, the period was short - a couple of months. We went through everything: the guards, who visited the warehouses, sorted out all the “misunderstandings” such as records when handing over the guards about unclear seal impressions, etc. Everything was under control: behavior, conversations, in general, everything. The mouse will not slip by unnoticed without our control. Everyone was under suspicion, some were already ready to confess...

The curators stayed with me for about a month, which caused significant damage to my salary, although not modest (at that time), because... snacks and drinks were supposed to be from the culprit, that is, from me. But alas... Neither supervision, nor intensive work, nor even evening summaries at the table and stress relief brought any results, they did not even get on the trail of the kidnappers. The curators realized that they couldn’t earn orders and everyone quietly disappeared. At the same time, they made it clear that my promotion was screwed up, as well as my transfer from the island in the near future, and if I didn’t find the pistols and they seriously surfaced somewhere, there could be even more serious problems.

Having scratched my then still thick hair and worthily noted in the northern way the departure of a high-ranking commission, I rolled up my sleeves and began to look for intruders, without the excitement that the curators created, but calmly, methodically - as we were taught. Based on the analysis of all available information (of which we actually accumulated a lot of information in a month), I compiled a special grid plan, where I outlined, almost second by second, the entire 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. He was not too lazy to send requests to all relevant territorial bodies of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to interview in detail everyone who, even in the smallest degree, could come into contact with the ill-fated pistols, the NZ warehouse and our Island. I waited a long time for answers and sent reminders. And as in Pushkin’s fairy tale “About the Fisherman and the Fish,” he cast and cast the net, only not three times, but many, many times. I waited impatiently for answers, and they all brought only disappointment.

More than a year has passed since the weapons shortage was discovered. Hope was melting away... And suddenly an answer from St. Petersburg from the famous “Crosses”, where one of the former sailors from the self-propelled Kilda barge was safely hovering on a prison bunk for committing some crime. During an interview with this former sailor (maybe even with passion), it turned out that these pistols were stolen during the delivery of weapons to the Island. And one of the kidnappers was precisely this one, who was serving a sentence for a crime (fortunately, without the participation of our “PMs”). The second kidnapper was also identified thanks to the testimony received. And everything turned out very simple for them. Before the departure of the barge already loaded with weapons, the sea became stormy. Which is not uncommon in these parts. The commander of the barge, a midshipman, taking advantage of the opportunity provided by nature to stay on the mainland in Murmansk, quickly found a girlfriend in the city, and while it was stormy, he also did not waste time with her. And two demobilizers, mostly out of boredom and for the sake of interest, carefully opened the hold, climbed in and began to pretend to be Rambo, hanging themselves with machine guns, machine guns, pistols... At the same time, they captured everything in photographs, which were later found in their demobilization albums. Having played enough and had fun, we decided to take a pistol with us in civilian life, as in the film “The Diamond Arm” - so “... just in case of fire.” In order not to take risks, they hid the pistols in the hold, in case there was a shortage of pistols when they were put into the NZ warehouse, they would have safely “found” them in the hold. There was no risk. However, the loss of weapons was not noticed at that time, and so she waited in the wings (8 years), until the meticulous chief of artillery weapons arrived at the unit. If he had not appeared on the island at that time, perhaps until today no one would have known about the missing pistols, and my fate would have turned out differently. Since then, I stopped believing the inspection reports signed by many people. And during the 8 years of inspections of the NZ warehouse, more than a dozen of these acts were filed. And in each, “...weapons and ammunition are fully available. There is no shortage." Here's the story.
I reported to the top about the materials received on the search for weapons, but they had long since forgotten about this story. There was growing chaos in the country, and there was no time for just 2 pistols. Moreover, organizational measures against those “culpable for the loss” of the weapon (i.e., me) had long been taken.”

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 first. Warriors and soldiers also tried to grab theirs. 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 at Kildin Island. Also, we also went to the port of Kirkenes (Norway), where we delivered our tourists.

During our next approach to Western Kildin, while approaching 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 of their next military tasks. 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 dated back to the end of the 16th century. It was then that Van-Linschoten, a member of the Barents expedition, drew up a map of the island of Kildin and depicted a camp in the west of the island. Considering the difference between the upper plateau of the island (max. point 286 m) and the coastal terraces in the west of Kildin, the buildings near the Kildin Strait were called “bottom”. This is how Lower (Western) Kildin arose. The real heyday of Nizhny (Western) Kildin can be considered the arrival of a separate coastal missile regiment (regiment) on the island 616. For the delivery of equipment and weapons, the pier was rebuilt, and facilities for the regiment's support services and residential buildings were built near the pier. Small missile ships (SMRs) could approach the pier to unload/load missiles and deliver the necessary cargo.
The village of Nizhny (Western) Kildin “died” after the withdrawal of 616 units 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 SF's birthday. On April 15, 1933, the “Special Purpose Expedition” - EON-1, consisting of the destroyers “Uritsky”, “Kuibyshev”, SKR “Uragan”, “Smerch”, submarine “Dekabrist” and "People's Volunteer" The expedition arrives safely in Murmansk on August 5. Construction of a naval base in the city of Polyarny begins. In July 1933, the party and government commission headed by I.V. Stalin inspected the proposed locations. The construction of bases and airfields, the creation of coastal defenses and a shipbuilding base began, and the naval theater was developed and equipped.

The strategic location of the island, on which in 1933 there were only two Observation and Communication Posts (POS) and civilian enterprises, did not go unnoticed. By the way, the N&S post in Western Kildin was created during the First World War. Over the course of 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, and logistics units have been created on Kildin... The main construction work on the island is carried out by the 97th Construction Directorate of the Northern Fleet Engineering Service . In 1935, construction began on the 10th battery, consisting of two MB-2-180 towers, which later formed the basis of the 2nd Separate Artillery Division.

Here, in Eastern and Western Kildin, I regularly visited on various ships, from 1966 until the mid-90s, when active life on the glorious aircraft carrier island practically ceased...

I remember Kildin 1970-1980 well. At that time, soldiers were taught not only military affairs, but also the history of this island. During political classes, the commander did not recite articles from the “Communist of the Armed Forces” to his soldiers, but told the history of the development of the island. About how William Barents sailed from Kildin to search for a northern sea route to China. How he then spent the winter on Novaya Zemlya and died there. How his comrades, having buried the commander, with difficulty reached Kildin again, where the local Lapps warmed them, fed them and helped them get to Kola. How the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery founded the village of Monastyrskoye 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, undaunted by difficulties, settled at the end of the nineteenth century on this deserted island with his young wife and two small children. At first they lived in a shack that they made from driftwood. Over time, he built a good two-story house on Mogilny, acquired livestock, fishing gear, and motorized boots. He became a wealthy, successful colonist. He raised eleven children on the island. The whole of Murman respectfully called him “King of Kilda.” And these stories of the commander remained in the memory of his subordinates for the rest of their lives...

And what did Kildin Island become after the military left it? What did they leave for future generations? What is the ecology like on 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: “Oh, WHAT IS THE ECOLOGY FOR YOU THERE? Back then, the soldiers didn’t even know such a word (or didn’t want to know). If some order and cleanliness were still visible on the territory of the garrisons, then they began to crap behind it, dumping military waste wherever possible. After us, the grass won't grow! At that time, no one even thought about removing this garbage from the island. To my great shame in front of Kildin, I was also one of those who did this, without even thinking about the consequences that are shown in modern photographs - essentially an environmental disaster of the island. The island is soiled with military garbage right down to the very tomatoes, as they say: “Mom, don’t spoil me!”

With great interest I read on the sites a very interesting story about. Kildina. I learned a lot for the first time. I looked at a lot of photos 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 this is what I would like to note with regret. Since the 30s, the Soviet government decided to make this Pearl of the Barents Sea, a peaceful, beautiful unique island, “an outpost for the protection and defense of the Kola Bay and the Kola Peninsula” from any enemy aggression.

Perhaps at that time this was the only correct decision. They began to arm him, digging into the holy land. On the island they installed modern, at that time, long-range guns, bunkers, built an airfield for airplanes, and a road. Even some military “sage” drove tanks there, apparently believing that one of the largest tank battles in modern warfare would take place on Kildin.

And so, the island, armed to the teeth, met the war. History gave him a unique chance to prove to everyone that it was not without reason that countless resources of our poor, hungry people were poured into him. And also, at least 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 you already know what kind of prisoners there were in the 30s. 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 go down in military history as a true stronghold, stronghold and true defender of the Motherland.

This is where Kildin had to show all his power, ROARING with his guns so that there was no wet spot left. Having such formidable weapons would smash them to pieces. But Kildin was ordered to turn away, and he remained bashfully silent. And then throughout the war, for some reason he retained his secret innocence. True, there was information in the press that he did “countercapture” some kind of submarine. But this may have been Stalinist propaganda. After all, they lied about everything then, without a twinge of conscience, to raise morale. And we will trample everyone under boots and throw hats at them. But trouble came, and under Stalin’s sensitive leadership, within six months the Germans reached Moscow, flooding the land with soldiers’ blood and mass captivity of entire armies. This is our story! But time, apparently, will put everything in its place. Maybe…

After the war, no matter how hard they tried to fill the island with more and more modern weapons, it remained something like a “scarecrow type.”
And then, at the present time, they treated him worse than ever. All invested funds, destinies and lives of people, everything went to waste. When leaving the island, all military property was abandoned, and then everything left behind was mercilessly plundered and destroyed. What was created here over dozens of years 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 “with the same tomatoes.”

And how much money, as a result of such a criminal mismanagement situation, ended up in pants with stripes and their henchmen, one can only guess. Surely, our military red-lamp officers reported to higher authorities that the funds allocated for the conservation of military equipment were spent for their intended purpose. And for all this chaos, with the collapse of the USSR, we must “glorify” our first alcoholic president. I overslept there, and fucked up there. Damn him! (Although it is not customary to speak ill of the dead). I'm sorry, but my soul has accumulated! He, a hundred pounds of drunken snot, didn’t give a damn about the Russians. And the fact that we still cannot clear up the consequences of his kingdom is his main fault. And the fact that many normal men, such as Rybatchin resident Viktor Viktorovich Kudelya, or Kilda major Nikolai Savitsky, suddenly found themselves “abroad” of their homeland, is the main fault of the alcoholic president. And the story with Kildin and everything that happened to him lately is just a tiny speck against the backdrop of a huge, abandoned, sovereign pile of crap.

And now on the island there is something that could be, and should have previously been in this peaceful place: an operating radio post and two lighthouses. Although this is a double-edged sword. If there weren’t such a past, there wouldn’t be these memories! And you don't know what's better. One thing now reassures and consoles me is that neither the air defense service nor other naval services associated with saber rattling will ever be on Kildin again, which means that all the bad things are in the past!!!??? Nature needs a lot of time to heal the wounds inflicted on it by man. The main thing is not to interfere with her in this matter and help her. 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: “I was lucky enough to communicate in the late 80s with a man who was a naval artilleryman at that time and participated as a military expert in equipping a coastal battery on Kildin in 1938. He saw how everything was built there, and what the rules were... The road is a punishment for prisoners... those who did not fulfill the norm were sent 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, construction of a powerful (180mm caliber) tower artillery battery began on Kildin Island. At the same time, open positions for artillery and anti-aircraft installations and a berth for warships were built on Western Kildin. Metro builders made adits in the rocks for future repair shops. On the southern coast, near Cape Prigonny, a runway was being built for the Northern Fleet aviation. On the Kildin plateau (about 250m above sea level) there were barracks, a residential town (New Kildin) for the military, a base hospital, a club, a bakery and a bath and laundry plant.

For the uninterrupted delivery of heavy, bulky cargo and equipment to construction sites, a paved road was needed. Nature took care of the building material - the drainage of the southern coast was completely strewn with granite cobblestones, and the GULAG authorities never had any problems with personnel. They had at their disposal top military experts, skilled production organizers, and skilled workers... And the NKVD knew how to force slaves to work. Today many thieves and murderers are sitting in prison, doing nothing. They sit and grin!

Realizing the responsibility of the task and the real threat (in case of the slightest mistake) to personal safety, the chief “master of backwork” used a hard whip in practice, sometimes flavoring it with a soft carrot. In one of the directives of the NKVD, Beria demanded: “...personally supervise the quality selection of contingents... Send only men - the best production workers, healthy, suitable for hard physical labor in the conditions of the North, with the remainder of their sentence 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 those who have especially distinguished themselves will receive benefits in the form of a reduction in time upon completion of construction. And the best record-breaking drummers will be released early and nominated for awards. And the most severe measures will be applied to refuseniks, disruptors of production and the camp regime.
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 constituted a state secret.

3. ... In January 1961, an emergency occurred in the Northern Fleet - a new missile submarine "S-80" 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. In the midst of the debate, a respected retired admiral, who spent many years serving in the Northern Fleet, asked to speak. And this is what he said: “When we, officers of the Northern Fleet headquarters, went out to sea to the site of the death of the S-80 submarine, Marshal Rokossovsky, who was on the navigation bridge, looked at the gloomy bulk of Kildin floating past, without addressing anyone specifically, thoughtfully said: “Here I built a road”...!?

4. ...Post-war peaceful life on the island improved quickly. A fishing trading post opened in East Kildin (Mogilnoye). They even tried to breed arctic foxes. The post office and school were reopened. They built a club and 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, arranged their simple life. The alternate airfield occasionally met and saw off planes with inspectors.

Only they never got around to finishing the construction of Rokossovsky’s road again. Each commander, cursing her, considered the road not his “object”, and during the periodic scoldings of the inspecting authorities, he tried to turn the arrow on his neighbor. The road was deteriorating, 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 weapons - cruise and anti-aircraft guided missiles. And again Kildin became a secret object. The entire civilian population was again deported to the mainland. Now forever! The fishing post on the Eastern (Mogilny) Kildin was especially damaged. The abandoned village looked like a dead man whose hastily departing relatives had forgotten to bury him. This was at the end of 1966.

5. ... And then troubled times came: in Moscow they fired at the White House from tanks. Grozny was bombed in Chechnya. The Black Sea Fleet was divided in Sevastopol. Soviet troops were urgently withdrawn from Germany, Poland and the Baltic states. On Kildin they watched with alarm 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 southern shore from the island. Then it was the rocket men’s turn. The directive came in early May 1995. It instructed to close down the regiment by August 31, 1995. Take out the missile ammunition and fire control systems, and leave everything else for eternity in the Kilda hills. Send conscript sailors to the North Sea crew. Officers and warrant officers who have the length of service necessary for retirement are to be transferred to the reserve, and the rest are to be placed at the disposal of 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 in a retreat. No hand was raised to destroy the bath and laundry plant, the kindergarten, the basic sailor club (the pride of the islanders), the boiler house and the power plant, which were overhauled and prepared for a long winter. Barrels of diesel fuel were placed in neat stacks. The coal was bunkered and covered with old rocket covers. We carefully lubricated all the mechanisms of the recently modernized multi-ton launchers. They were lowered into the shafts and covered with reinforced concrete roofs - roller bars. They hung locks and stamps with seals on all the 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 with ships, autogens, cranes and tractors poured onto the secret island. During the short polar summer, they cut out, felled, packed and took away the goods abandoned by the military. They didn’t forget about the solarium with coal carefully stored in the fall...

They leave foreign lands, demobilization, demobilization, demobilization! And wherever you look these May days, they walk around drunk.

(From the memoirs of my comrade, who served on Kildin during the military crackdown in the mid-90s). – And we lodged on Mogilny. We had a sailor barracks there, and a couple of houses for the permanent staff. In the early nineties, after the collapse of the Union, a mass exodus of military personnel from the island began. They left as if they were retreating. They abandoned 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. High up from God, far from the authorities. And the bosses don't care about us. He has his own problems... Believe it or not, we barely survived the winter. There was no autumn delivery: no diesel fuel, no coal, no food. They collected driftwood along the shore and dismantled empty houses for firewood. We ate whatever we had. Thanks to the fishermen - they didn’t let us die of hunger. Well, there’s nothing to say about military service. What the hell kind of service is there if the sailors are worse than the homeless - ragged, unwashed, hungry. We went on watch somehow, thank God. The commander is diluted with a drop. He's been out of military rank for two terms already. It was an outright “bolt” on everything. We never saw him sober. In the spring I left for Severomorsk. And finally...

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

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

It's sad to see such pictures around. It’s sad for several reasons: 1. our country spent the same amount to finally give up all this. Do you immediately have a question? Was it necessary to do all this? 2. People who spent the best years of their lives there ended up wasting their lives? Is it possible to live peacefully after all this? And by and large, only two bastards from the party are to blame for this - the labeled Mishka Humpback and the alcoholic Yeltsin! Creatures!

I don’t know whether it would be appropriate to post this story of mine about the tragedy that occurred in October 1989 on the island of Kildin; my readers will judge for you. 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 direct participants in those real events. Surnames and names that are not fictitious, but slightly changed for aesthetic reasons. With the exception of one - captain 3rd rank Fost Dmitry Ivanovich, who bravely fulfilled his duty as an officer. I will also omit the part numbers.

On the eve of the celebration of the Constitution Day of the USSR on October 7, 1989, a fire broke out at a weapons depot of one of the military units on Kildin Island. After its liquidation, an audit was ordered at the warehouse, as a result of which a shortage of 4 machine guns, bayonet knives for them, a box of F-1 grenades, and two zinc cartridges (1800 pieces) was revealed. This is obvious theft. And upon careful study of the reasons that caused the fire, traces of deliberate arson of the warehouse were revealed, as well as an intention to cover up the traces of the theft itself by exploding ammunition. Namely, a container of flammable liquid, the remains of a candle and a grenade with a pulled out ring and a pin taped to the fuse with electrical tape. That is, as the candle burned, the flame should have spread to the fuel, then burned through the electrical tape on the fuse. And from the subsequent explosion of the grenades, the ammunition stored in the warehouse should have detonated, and then...more...more...and more... The Nizhny town could, in theory, not remain at all. If we don’t assume more... The alarm was also turned off, there were traces of sawing the lock shackle.

The incident was immediately reported to the authorities, after which representatives of the KGB, military prosecutor's office, and command arrived on the island. The garrison personnel were placed in a barracks position. 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. The search 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 marks, and a small piece of paper with traces of fresh blood were found near the warehouse.

On October 11, during the lunch break, when representatives of the KGB and the command left 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 obtain a confession from signalman O.A. Andriyanov, who turned off the alarm at the time the weapon was stolen. He also named the direct participants in the crime: foreman 1st article Pavlenko and senior sailor Nurutdinov.

Unfortunately, information that Andrianov had split and surrendered his accomplices spread very quickly among the garrison. Realizing that they had been exposed, Pavlenko and Nurutdinov left the unit and took weapons and ammunition hidden in a landfill under Cape Bull. After that, we headed towards the pier, with the goal of getting onto the passenger ship “Kanin” or some other ship unnoticed. However, their plans were not destined to come true. An armed officer post had been set up on the pier in advance. Then Pavlenko and Nurutdinov did not come up with anything better than to seize a car and, amid the general turmoil, drive to the pier located on Kildin East.

They walked along the seashore unnoticed to the Nizhny residential town, where at that time a ZIL-131 car was parked near the house with boxes of vegetables and barrels of pickles loaded in the back. At gunpoint, they threw the young driver out of the car, after which they entered the entrance of a residential building with the goal of taking the wife of the Kilda special police officer hostage. But she was not at home, and Lieutenant Mizin’s wife, Yulia, responded to the knock from a neighboring apartment. Lieutenant Mizin himself was on vacation in Sevastopol at that time, and Yulia was not allowed to go 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 communicate with Yulia. The owner of the library was of special beauty.

Having got into the cabin of the car, together with the hostage they proceeded towards Kildin East past the pier with the watercraft standing on it. At this time, the search for Pavlenko and Nurutdinov had already begun in the unit. After the driver's report that the car had been stolen, an alarm was raised and all parts of the island were notified. All women and children were collected in isolated rooms. Armed guards were assigned to them. So, as the road to Vostochny was also blocked by setting 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 car park area, and from there the criminals headed towards the upper residential town.

Unfortunately, the untimeliness of the notification due to the lack of mobile communications did not allow the barrier set up in the Voenkor area to be notified. As a result of this, the car with the criminals and the hostage, having passed through the upper town without hindrance, came to the barrier from an unexpected direction. Having approached at low speed, we broke through the barrier and headed down. Fire was opened after them. Hearing the shots, the commander gave the order to the armed groups to take positions in the area where the unit was located. The group commanders were ordered to use weapons only in a situation that ensured the safety of the hostage. Having descended directly, bypassing the serpentine road, the car drove at slow speed through the economic territory of the unit and headed towards the lower town. At the turn of the road to residential buildings there was already a barrier, the officers of which demanded that they 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 and throwing grenades, broke through towards the pier. Machine-gun fire was opened after the car. At the beginning of the descent of the road to the pier there was a barrier of conscripts led by a midshipman. Trying to stop the car, midshipman Boris Gamko jumped onto the running board of the car on the passenger side. Pavlenko, who was sitting by the door, put a machine gun out the open window and opened fire.

Falling from the step, midshipman Gamko returned pistol fire. Pavlenko was wounded by unaimed shots through the rear wall of the cabin. Under heavy fire from sailors and officers, Nurutdinov increased speed and directed the car towards the pier. At that moment, a grenade without a pin fell out of the hand of the wounded Pavlenko and exploded on the floor of the cabin. Nurutdinov lost control, and the car crashed into concrete slabs laid by construction workers at the pier checkpoint. Negotiations began with Nurutdinov. The negotiations were conducted by captain 3rd rank Fost Dmitry Ivanovich, left in only his shirt, demonstrating the absence of weapons, and sat on the hood of a broken car. He managed to persuade Nurutdinov to allow the murdered Pavlenko and Yulia Mizina, who was wounded in the head, to be taken out of the cabin. Yulia was immediately sent by car to the upper town to the 75 infirmary. On the way, she died from loss of blood. Negotiations with Nurutdinov lasted about an hour and a half. All this time he was holding a grenade without a pin in his hand.

Fost managed to convince Nurutdinov, in exchange for a Makarov pistol, to throw the grenade into the sea. However, even here Nurutdinov showed cunning, refused the offered barrel, and demanded another. When he received what was required (PM) and threw out the grenade, they pinned him down. He wanted to shoot from the PM, since he was also a specially trained soldier.

At this time, due to the lack of normal communication and notification, the sentry guarding the technical territory on a tower near the road fired at a water truck heading to a residential building. The man in charge of the vehicle was wounded by a single machine gun shot.

There were some overlays. There was information from one of the posts that the fire was also fired backwards 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 a fourth criminal arose after the participants in the barrier near the lower town thought that someone had jumped out of the back of a broken-through car and disappeared into the darkness. In the morning, a special group was delivered to the island by helicopter. The garrison soldiers spent another two days “chasing the shadow.” The unit commander, despite the short duration of his tenure, was removed by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense and appointed chief of artillery in another unit. The surviving criminals Nurutdinov and Andrianov were convicted.

All this was later told to me by a friend of mine who was directly involved in the above events. After interrogations of Nurudinov and Andrianov, it became clear that these criminals planned to seize the Kanin motor ship in order to get to neighboring Norway on it. Knowing that we had already begun to march on Norway at that time, they were under pain of shooting the captain - i.e. me, they planned to demand that the ship proceed to the port of Kirkenes, where they wanted to ask for political asylum. Thank God that the criminals did not get on our glorious ship! Otherwise, perhaps I would not have to write these lines.

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

Kildin Island is just a dot on the map, open to the winds.
His character was forged, just like in Sparta, because the service there was harsh.
We cannot forget your beauty. The cry of seagulls in bird colonies,
The “paving stone” road, the polar night. And the day has no end and no beginning...
Your “Chests”, “Mogilny”, fishing from the pier come to mind.
Fogs, snow and sailor friends... What a pity we can’t return everything from the beginning.
You feel the gaze of these Northern waters, the variability of wild nature.
Danger, severity of polar latitudes, treachery of winds and weather.

At this point I wanted to complete 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 about the start of major exercises in the Barents Sea was shown on TV. What about Kildin? Is the unsinkable aircraft carrier really no longer needed? After all, this is the best place for shooting at the “enemies” of the Barents Sea. I waited for events to develop and waited...

P.S. P.S. September 2010. Kildin, don't forget! And they even remembered it a lot! They temporarily brought in two S-300 systems and fired towards the Barents Sea. Still, from North Kildin you can see everything very far away - perhaps all the way to the North Pole!

Lately there has been a lot of talk about the revival of Russia. But society, corrupted and poisoned by Gorbachev’s demagoguery, Yeltsin’s unprincipledness and Chubais’s privatization, is still inert and soulless. Indifferently watching how greedy non-humans, devoid of conscience and civic duty, who have crossed the line of memory, shamelessly rob the graves of their fathers... And until we understand that Great Russia cannot be created without methodological education in new generations of sincere patriotism, high spirituality, selfless love for the Motherland, respectful attitude towards the graves of fathers - outrages against the memory and history of the country will continue...

Melancholy and devastation are all that remains of Kildin today. Will there be a revival of it?

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

Toponymy- a section of linguistics devoted to the study of geographical names (toponyms), their origin, meaning, changes in their pronunciation, spelling, etc. Often, geographical names reflect the (forgotten or past) properties of geographical objects, the history of their discovery or development. The toponymy of the island of Kildin begins with a riddle: so far no one has been able to definitively prove the origin of the word “Kildin”! To what extent do the geographical names of Kildin reflect the history of the island?... You be the judge...

Bull Cape. In the modern navigation guide of the Barents Sea, the following is written about Kildin, as a good landmark when approaching the Motovsky and Kola bays: “The high and steep Cape Bull is especially noticeable - its western end.” Externally, Cape Bull looks like the stem of a ship. It is logical to assume that the name “Bull” was given to the cape because of the steepness of its shores. On maps of the 19th century I came across the name “m. Bykov." The version that “bykov” is a surname is unlikely...

From the Book of Navigation (Pomeranian Sailing Line, 18th century) description of the depths in the Kildinskaya Salma:

“Near Bykov, the fence is shallow, but somewhere along the salma it’s deep...”

Upper, Middle, Low, Red... mountains, the names were given by Lieutenant Vilkov when surveying Kildin in 1771. It is unknown why Vilkov fell in love with the mountains so much and left almost no attention to navigational landmarks... The names have not survived to this day; there is not a single named height on the modern map of Kildin.

Kildin island, the origin of the word “Kildin” is still a mystery. Early maps from the 16th century show the island with the name Kilun. Later, the Dutch put it on the map under the name Kildyin. Professor V.P. Voshchinin believes that perhaps the word “kildin” comes from “kilted” - “to prohibit”, i.e. "forbidden place" It is difficult for me to give a logical explanation why Kildin is a forbidden place. Considering that medieval sailors wrote down the names of geographical places by ear from the local language, I dare to suggest that Kilun may be a corruption of the Finno-Ugric word “kul” - “fish”. Thus, the island could be called “fishy”, because for the last 400 years the Kildinsky Strait has been the best place for catching cod... But this is just an assumption.
For several centuries, the island was put on foreign and Russian maps as “Kilduyn”, but Litke corrected this: “The island of Kildin, and not Kilduyn, as we hitherto, imitating the Dutch, called it...”. Since then (1822), the island has been known on Russian maps under the name Kildin.

The root “Kildin” has the following geographical names: Kildin Island, the settlements of Eastern Kildin, Upper Kildin, New Kildin, Kildinsky Strait, Kildinsky-Severny lighthouse, Kildinsky-Vostochny lighthouse, Kildinsky-Zapadny lighthouse, Kildinsky leading point, Kildinsky anchor leading point; Maly Kildin island, Kildinsky-Maly lighthouse; Kildinsky stream (flows into Kola), the village of Kildinstroy with the Kildinsky highway, etc.
Kilda Lapps fished in Kildin in the summer, and lived in the Kola region in the winter. The Kildinsky stream got its name from the place where the Kildinsky Lapps lived. In turn, the Kildinsky stream gave the name to another toponym - the village of Kildinstroy. The urban-type settlement of Kildinstroy begins its history in 1934, when a decision was made to build the Kildinsky Stream brick factory in the area of ​​a clay-rich deposit.

Maly Kildin, the island is located between Kildin Island and the mainland, not far from Cape Prigonny. On the Litka map of 1822, M. Kildin Island is shown as Bear Island: “Opposite Cape Prigonny lies under the hardened shore the bare, stone island of Medvezhiy, which restricts the strait to 300 fathoms. The Gusinaya River flows into the bay behind this island.”

Cow Cape, southern coast of Kildin Island, not far from Cape Prigonny - Professor Voshchinin believes that the name “cow” is associated with driving deer to Kildin Island for summer pastures. Another origin of the name of the cape is also possible: the Pomors called beluga whales “cows” or “sea cows” - the object of fishing for northerners along the entire Murmansk coast

Dashing Cliff, a rock on the northwestern tip of the island. The obsolete name is "Dashing Buttermilk". The Likhoy cliff got its name most likely because of the steepness of the slope. This part of the island is quite high, 200-250 meters, and the shores are almost vertical. Nearby is the Hacksaw Rock.

Louisine buttermilk(rock). Located near Cape Prigonny. Mentioned in works on the geology of the island at the beginning of the 20th century. I have not yet been able to determine the origin of the name and the exact location on the map.

shallow lake in the western part of the island. No comments needed. On one of the maps of the 18th century, lakes Melkoe and Pridorozhnoye are designated as “Vord lakes,” most likely from the Norwegian vord, vorda - mountain, hill. See Lake Pridorozhnoye below.

Mogilnaya Bay, Mogilny Cape, Mogilny Lake located in the southeastern part of Kildin Island. According to unverified data, XVI-XVII centuries. The bay was called Korabelnaya, and in the 18th century. and until 1809 the bay and cape were called Solovetsky or Monastyrsky. A fishing camp in this part of the island first appeared on the map in 1594, but most likely existed before that. In 1636, during the “inventory” of the property in the “Orders of Old Years” there is the following entry: “On Kildin Island there are one hundred and forty monastic draft deer and non-tax deer, and eleven court vessels, and three large river vessels...”, here we are talking is about the Pechenga Monastery. The Pechenga monastery was burned to the ground in 1589 by the Swedes and was transferred to Kola... On the map of 1771, the settlement in the southeastern part of the island is designated as “Rybny Stan of the Solovetsky Monastery.” In 1809, the English frigate Neyada destroyed the camp, shooting it from cannons. You can read about this episode of the Russian-Swedish-English war in the “History” section, page “19th century: the beginning” of this site. Since then, the cape, bay, and later the lake began to be called Mogilny. is a Federal Natural Monument, and its inhabitant, the Kilda cod, is listed in the Red Book.

Hacksaw rock on the southwestern coast of the island. Academician N.Ya. Ozeretskovsky in his “Description of Kola” told us the following: “At the rear end of the Kildin Island, facing the Kola Bay, there is a very high buttermilk called Hacksaw, because someone, having climbed it for eggs, was already halfway up the hill and fell into great horror, and not daring to go down to the bottom, he climbed up the knife to the top, pushing it from one crack to another.” (You can read an excerpt from the book by Academician Ozeretskovsky)

Arctic fox lake, in the southwest of the island. Since 1928, Arctic foxes began to be industrially bred on the island, and hunting was banned in 1925. In February 1929, Kildin Island was given “for lease use to the Gostorg... for the development and organization of fur farming... for a period of 12 years, counting from 1928. The right granted to Gostorg to exploit the territory of the island is exclusive." Pushtorg planned by 1934-35. have 11,000 Arctic foxes on the island!

Prigonny Cape, on the southern coast of Kildin Island, not far from Cape Koroviy - Professor Voshchinin explains this way: “Here the Kildin Sami transported reindeer brought from the interior of the Kola Peninsula across the strait to the summer pastures of Kildin Island.” This fact can be confirmed in the “Orders of old years” of the Moscow ancient repository, dated April 11, 7144 (1636 according to the new style): “On Kildin Island there are one hundred and forty monastery tax deer and non-tax deer.”“Tyagly” - comes either from the tax (tax) or from the Pomeranian “pull”. According to V.I. Dalyu also “driving” means a place where cattle are driven.

Roadside lake is located next to one of the few roads on the island. On one of the maps of the 18th century, lakes Melkoe and Pridorozhnoye (to the north) are designated as “Vorda lakes”, possibly from the Norwegian vord, vorda - mountain, hill.

North and South Creeks, respectively, in the northern and southern parts of the island. One of the northern streams flows along the bottom of the canyon.

Builder lake, located in the western part of the island at an altitude of more than 200 m. Named, most likely, in honor of the Soviet builders who continued to create military facilities on Kildin in the post-war period.

Chests, stones on the eastern tip of the island and navigation sign(lighthouse). Litke wrote that when approaching Kildin from the east, he observed “several large stones lying on the shore near the water. These stones, called “Chests,” from a distance look exactly like old huts.”. On a navigation map from the early 19th century there is the inscription “stones from a distance look like houses.” An underwater ridge extends into the water from them, and to warn sailors about the danger, a sign (lighthouse) Chests was installed nearby. The writer Viktor Konetsky in the story “Yesterday’s Concerns” said this about Chests: "...Chests are such evil and treacherous stones on the eastern tip of the island of Kildin. Chests."
The Chest stones, despite the cruel destructive effects of sea waves and northern winds, have still been preserved. However, judging by the maps of the early 19th century, there were fewer of them: the surf destroyed some of them. A visit to this place leaves a strong aesthetic impression! Truly, nature is the best sculptor!

Black River in the southern part of the island. On old maps Black Creek.

V.P. Voshchinin (1882-1967), mentioned several times on this page, is professor. Until 1917, he dealt with issues of colonization and population migration, and wrote a number of works on Russian colonization. Founder of the Murmansk branch of GENII (Geographical-Economic Research Institute, now NIIG - Research Institute of Geography. GENII was created on December 3, 1918 and then lost and then regained its independence from Leningrad State University-SPGU). Under the leadership of Voshchinin and with direct participation, the Geographical Dictionary of the Kola Peninsula was published in 1939. Professor Voshchinin was awarded the University Prize together with other authors for the “Geographical Dictionary of the Murmansk Region” in 1948 at Leningrad State University. Professor Voshchinin can rightfully be called the father of Kola toponymy!

IF YOU KNOW OTHER TOPONIMES OF KILDIN OR ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF THE ABOVE NAMES, PLEASE TELL ME

Last July, I was lucky enough to spend a week on the island of Kildin, perhaps the most mysterious and unusual island in the Barents Sea. I was very lucky with the weather - before my arrival, the heat was extremely unusual for those places, at plus thirty degrees. I walked around the island, both on the surface and in the depths, picked berries, fished, sailed on a boat. In addition, I had the task of obtaining 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 you 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 about it surprises scientists. For example, the rocks of the island form a multi-layered slate pie, but the opposite coast of the Kola Peninsula consists of granite. Only the Rybachy Peninsula has a layered structure, but it is many tens of kilometers away. Kildin is small - seventeen kilometers long, seven wide, but several natural zones manage to coexist on these seven kilometers. The northern coast of the island is steep and steep, 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 bushes and tall grass grow here.

1.2 - Views of Cape Bull - the western tip of the island. Steep and high layered cliffs begin from here and run along the entire northern coast.

3 - Cape Bull. Boundary between flat and steep zones.

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

6 - Terraces of the southern coast, shrouded in night fog. In general, fog over the island happens quite often, 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 are scattered throughout the island. In summer, geese, ducks and partridges nest here.

12,13,14,15 - Southern 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 zonation, starting from the subsurface, occurs under water. Lake Mogilnoe consists of three layers of water that never mix. The topmost layer is fresh, inhabited by freshwater fish. The layer underneath has a salinity similar to that of the surrounding sea. And at the very bottom there reigns a world of hydrogen sulfide, separated from salt water by a layer of bacteria that does 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 ship "Coast of Hope", carrying drilling equipment to Chukotka, was thrown ashore. Soon, the cargo was removed and the ship was abandoned, considering it unprofitable to remove it from the rocks. So it stands, attracting robbers and tourists.

Just one hundred and fifty years ago, the Sami, the indigenous people of the Kola Peninsula, swam reindeer herds to Kildin every summer, and fairs grew in the east of the island, in a bay convenient for ship anchorage. Furs, fat, freshwater 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 set out on a campaign, looking for a northern route to China and India.

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

In the mid-eighteenth century, the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery built a camp on the island and established year-round fishing. But the government had no business with the remote island, and in 1809 English robber ships came to Kildin, sank fishing boats, destroyed and burned the settlement, killing all the inhabitants and throwing the corpses into the lake. Since then, it received the name Mogilnoye, like the bay.

24.25 - Mogilnaya Bay now. The yachts of the Murmansk Yacht Club stand at the mooring barrel.

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

In the second half of the 19th century, the government finally became interested in the island, issuing large incentives for those who wanted to settle. They promised not to collect duties for several years, to allocate free timber for the construction of houses and ships, and to exempt them from conscription duties. In addition to Russians, foreigners also flocked to the island, who quickly settled in and established their economy.

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 communications with the island sharply decreased, and in 1931 the nationalization of the property of the islanders began. The Norwegians were forced out of the island, and in 1939, all remaining inhabitants. The Gulag was built, whose prisoners began building a 180-millimeter tower artillery battery. At a depth of many meters, in the thickness of the stone, walls and rooms were built. Berths for warships, an airfield, and military camp buildings were built at an accelerated pace.

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

38, 39 - Undermountain ammunition storage facilities.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the island had 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, Kildin did not fire a single shot during the war years.

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

After the victory, some of the weapons were taken to the mainland, reviving a 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 rooms for future stationary missile systems were built. Underground command posts were erected nearby, and on the southern shore there were undermountain storage facilities for torpedoes and other weapons.

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

And many years dragged on, consisting of planned and surprise inspections, shootings, fresh mail, political studies and waiting for orders. With the commissioning of the Orbit space system, a television came to the island, and on weekends they showed movies in the sailor club. And then the huge country fell apart. Troop withdrawals and reductions in 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 arrived. People with autogens, cranes and tractors.

Nowadays, only ruins remain on the island from its past life, gradually being absorbed by nature. Of the military units, there are only two sea observation posts - ten conscripts, a midshipman, and a contract driver. Navy "shovels" regularly bring them coal, and exercises are held every August.

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

Every year, large authorities come to approve the shooting site. Every year it is the same. Then three large landing ships enter Mogilnaya Bay and equipment crawls out of them. Cars are shooting, people are pouring. A few days later the equipment returns, the large 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 2013 issue of the magazine “Science and Life”.

With this post I begin a short photo report about one of the mysteries of the Earth - the island of Kildin. There will be a lot of photos and comments on them. The photos are mine and not only. But I received permission to publish them from the authors a long time ago, but unfortunately not all photos are of good quality.
I’ll start the photo report with an annotation for the site created by my friend and colleague Dmitry Kosintsev:
- Kildin Island, located off the Murmansk coast, a few miles east of the exit from the Kola Bay. The largest of the islands lying off the Murmansk coast. The island is a mystery! Everything about it is unusual: name, geology, landscapes, lakes, history of development, inhabitants...! The island differs sharply from the mainland in its geological structure. The island is mountainous; The mountain slopes are gentle, 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 constantly decreases 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, on steep slopes, there are small waterfalls with the colorful names “Maiden’s Braids”, “Sailor’s Tears”, There is a waterfall that, due to the wind, does not reach the ground. In the south-eastern part of the island of Kildin there is a convenient bay for anchorage 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 there were trades of the Solovetsky Monastery. To the east of the bay is Lake Mogilnoye - a relict lake formed approximately 2000 years ago back. The lake consists of several layers: the top is fresh, the bottom is hydrogen sulfide, which kills everything, and in the middle part there is salt water with marine fauna!!! The lake is home to the rarest endemic - the Kilda cod, listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, and the lake itself is Federal natural monument. This section of the island, the bay, cape and lake, was called Mogilnye after the barbaric destruction and plunder of the camp by English filibusters in 1809. After this, the island remained deserted for a long time. In the 19th century there was a project to build a “megacity” on Kildin, but in the end only a young Norwegian couple, the Eriksens, moved to Kildin. Three generations of the Eriksen family lived on the island for approx. 60 years... At the beginning of the 20th century. The region's authorities have invested considerable sums in the island's infrastructure. At the same time, 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 factory, and an arctic fox animal farm were formed on the island... By the beginning of the war, the civilian population was resettled to different areas of the Murmask region. Many members of the Eriksen family were subjected to repression... Then the military era began on Kildin, 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, an airfield, a border outpost and the necessary infrastructure to provide all of the above... Today on Kildin there are only one or two inhabitants... just like in the First World War. The towns are plundered and destroyed. There is no population. Everything is abandoned, including observation and communication posts... But we believe that the exhausted, forgotten, 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 seagulls, but also birds of prey (buzzards, snowy owls). Among the rare plants, Rhodiola rosea, the “golden root,” can be distinguished.

More details about the above facts and events can be found at
ostrov-kildin.narod.ru/index.html, as well as on the forum of islanders. I count myself among them. I will post photos gradually, as this is the first time. Please do not spoil the selection until the end. So:
Yacht "Katarina". Captain Sergei Kuritsyn, a reserve airborne officer. It was on her that I visited Kiltdean Island again after 22 years

Gifts for the islanders. They also brought films and music, kurekha and pickles. But this one was the main thing

In the evening we arrived at Mogilnaya Bay and stood on the bank. In an hour we will be met by the inhabitants and owners of the Island

While they are gone, I am posting some island landscapes:
- local resident - ringed seal

The famous and mysterious “multi-story” sepulchral lake.

Kildin Island

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Kildin Island- a real end of the earth. Beyond that there is only Arctic ice. This is a rocky mass in the Barents Sea not far from the exit from the Kola Bay, 17 by 7 km. The steep banks drop into the sea from a height of a good hundred meters (the height of the island-plateau is 300 m). Severe, treeless, Kildin rises above the dark Arctic waters like an ancient fortress. Looking at this colossus, open to all storms, isolated from the big world, it is difficult to believe that people lived here. And yet, they lived.

There were three settlements on the island - Eastern Kildin, Western Kildin and Upper Kildin. The island is home to the unique Lake Mogilnoye, which is home to both marine and freshwater organisms.

History of the island:

The very first mentions of the island date back to the 16th century. In Korabelnaya Bay (now Mogilnaya), the navigator Willem Barents kept his camp, after whom the entire sea was later named.

At the beginning of the 19th century (20-30), the island was occupied by the military, who built a closed military base on its territory, which even included a reserve fighter airfield (27th Air Force Base).

After the war, Kildin reached its peak. For the people living here, it was a whole separate little world. The three settlements were connected by a dirt road. The pier of East Kildin was in full swing with life; large ships regularly entered the bay.

Then there was the exclusively military era of Kildin. Even the construction of permanent housing for military families began, which, however, was not destined to end. In 1995, a decision was made to disband the unit. And again the command: everyone leave the island. Kildin was hastily abandoned by people. And then came the looters, metal detectors, destroyers of ancient monuments. What they did not sort out was destroyed by time and the harsh subarctic climate. Now the only reminders of the former military base are a border boat and piles of rusty metal scattered along the banks.

Kildin these days (Photo report):

Strictly opposite East Kildin, off the Kola coast, the cargo ship (refrigerator) “Coast of Hope” crashed. Special equipment was repeatedly sent for it, but it was never possible to get it off the ground. The Shore of Hope was left to rust in its final resting place overlooking Kildin.

On the shore there is another natural phenomenon of Kildin: the so-called “chests” - stones of regular geometric shapes really look like chests. They are twice the height of a man, but from a distance they appear much smaller than their actual size.

Killer whales are playing around and curious seals are bristling with their whiskers. Getting into the center of a killer whale play is scary. These are 6-7 meter hulks, from which it is better to stay away.

Next on the program is East Kildin. We land ashore in Mogilnaya Bay. This is no longer a village, it is ruins. Such a trace would probably remain from human civilization if it perished tomorrow from an unknown catastrophe. Most of the houses don't even have their foundations left. We were unable to find the remains of my family’s house, except to roughly determine the place where it stood.

Abandoned military equipment rusts in the open air:

The natural heritage of the island is the relict Lake Mogilnoye: