Skrunda 2

This place of abandoned apartment blocks and military barracks was a secret town called Skrunda Nr. 2 in Soviet Latvia, only people with permits could enter it. It is estimated that about 9000 soldiers with their familities lived in it. The secret town hosted two radars for listening to objects in space. The third radar which was not finished, would have been one of the most powerful of such radars in the whole Soviet Union. The 60 meter structure was destroyed by explosives in 1995. National TV telecasted the pompous show. It took another few years until the Russian forces left the town in late 1999, thus halting operation of the last Russian military facility in Latvia.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus