Pavilosta: Missile base

The communications division of a Soviet radio brigade was located in Pāvilosta, as were fuel reservoirs for the army, an oil base, a naval border guard facility and, perhaps, an air defence missile base. The Soviet military left the base in 1992 and 1993. The brick and stone buildings have collapsed or have been destroyed. There are still underground bunkers, radar sites and hangars. People have found barrels of chemical substances buried in the ground. When the Russian military left Latvia, that is what it did in more than just one location. It’s hard to know now whether the military simply wanted to get rid of things which it no longer needed or whether it wanted to destroy the environment with something that is dangerous to nature and to people. A recent discovery of something similar in the territory of the Liepāja naval port was a nasty surprise for everyone, and it took a long time to determine what exactly was in the buried barrels and how dangerous the substances were for the environment and human health. It is clear that when people visit former Soviet military bases, they must be cautious. Underground bunkers and other places which are difficult to reach should probably not be visited at all.