Closure looms for Russia's remotest submarine town
Regional authorities in Murmansk consider to relocate the remaining population of Ostrovnoy, the remote military town on the Kola Peninsula.
The regional government in Murmansk might decide to close the town of Ostrovnoy and relocated the local inhabitants, the Russian-language version of the Barents Observer reports.
Ostronoy houses the Gremikha navy base. It is known as "the flying dogs town," because of its harsh and windy climate. The Gremikha closed more than two decades ago, but there was decommissioning operations of retired submarines ongoing until last year submarines.
According to Irina Prosolenko, a member of the regional parliament, the government in Murmansk considers the option of relocating the remaining 144 local residents. The relocation would cost about 1 billion roubles, she told newspaper RBC.
Prosolenko was part of a delegation that last week visited the remote military town. She travelled together with Sergei Dubovoy, the parliament speaker.
"Ostrovnoy is the most remote corner of the Kola Peninsula, and to make it there is very difficult. Every time, it feels like some special expedition," Prosolenko wrote in a social media comment.
During the visit, the politician visited the local school and a healthcare centre. "There are many problems," she admitted, but at the same time praised the local population for their care for the town.
The decision to close Ostrovnoy can only be made at the federal level, but the regional authorities are ready to prepare the necessary documents. A key challenge is coordination with Rosatom, the nuclear power company that still has an office in town.
"The Governor of the Murmansk region, Andrey Chibis, instructed us to analyse the situation. But it's not so easy since Rosatom is in town, which requires approval," clarified Prosolenko.
Ostrovnoy is a small settlement with 18 residential buildings and an annual budget of 370 million roubles. About 300 million is spent on the voyages of the passenger ship Klavidia Elanskaya, which connects Ostrovnoy with Murmansk. Another 20 million is spent annually on maintaining empty houses.
Among the main problems is the delivery of products, weak mobile communication, lack of internet, and a shortage of medical personnel.
"The town has a hospital, a paediatrician, and a dentist, but sometimes there is a shortage of consumables. The town also has a laboratory for tests, but there is no corresponding laboratory technician," said Prosolenko.
Sergei Dubovoy, Speaker of the Murmansk Duma, the regional parliament.
"There is a need at the regional level to decide how Ostrovnoy can continue to exist. It is pointless to invest funds — it is necessary to clearly calculate how much will be required for the resettlement of apartments and the relocation of inhabitants. We discussed various options," Dubovoy said in an interview with regional broadcaster GTRK Murman.
The possibility that Ostrovnoy might cease to exist is acknowledged also by the local town mayor.
"Unfortunately, I think so. A few years will pass — and probably Ostrovnoy will no longer exist," Olga Oginova said.
At the same time, Ostrovnoy is included in the renovation plan for regional closed military towns. In total, by 2026, 42 billion roubles are planned to be spent on infrastructure projects for the military towns in the Kola Peninsula.
The town was founded as a base for the nuclear submarine fleet. The Gremikha base for decades included several nuclear submarines that were key part of the Northern Fleet.
At the end of 2024, it became known that Rosatom has removed the last batch of containers with spent nuclear fuel from Gremikha, which had been stored on site since the 1990s.
Until the early 1990s, Ostrovnoy was a vivid small town with well-developed local services. At most, the local population totalled more than 14,000.
