Klyuchi (russian: Ключи́) is a

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

(a settlement) in

Ust-Kamchatsky District Ust-Kamchatsky District (russian: Усть-Камча́тский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #46 and municipalLaw #236 district (raion) of Kamchatka Krai, Russia, one of the eleven in the krai. It is located in the east of the krai. Th ...

Kamchatka Krai Kamchatka Krai ( rus, Камча́тский край, r=Kamchatsky kray, p=kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), situated in the Russian Far East, and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Its ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located on the

Kamchatka River The Kamchatka (russian: Камча́тка) is the longest river in Kamchatka peninsula, located in Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East. It flows into the Pacific Ocean at the town Ust-Kamchatsk, on the east coast of Kamchatka. It is long, an ...

, to the north of

Klyuchevskaya Sopka Klyuchevskaya Sopka (russian: Ключевская сопка; also known as Klyuchevskoi, russian: Ключевской) is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain of Siberia and the highest active volcano of Eurasia. Its steep, symmetrical cone t ...

volcano. It had a population of a marked decrease from that of the population at its peak numbered

Geography

The settlement is located near the point where the course of the Kamchatka River turns from north to east.

History

It was founded in 1731. In 1951, it was granted

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

status and in 1979—town status. In 2004, it was demoted to a rural locality in order to become eligible for increased funding from the Russian federal budget.

Military

Klyuchi, being in a very isolated part of the former Soviet Union, has been near an

intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...

testing range since the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, the Kura Missile Test Range, and is served by Klyuchi air base just southwest of the town. Klyuchi's original airfield consisted of a dirt airstrip and was located east-southeast of the town. It was abandoned in the 1960s''DETAILED REPORT OF KLYUCHI COMPLEX, USSR'', September 26, 1963 (Top Secret, declassified June 8, 2000), Central Intelligence Agency, Washington D.C., 1963. and is being reclaimed by forest.

Transportation

There is a road connecting Klyuchi to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. Driving, according to Google Maps, it takes several hours.

Climate

Klyuchi has a typical

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

Dfc), albeit with slight early dry-summer precipitation patterns. Summers are generally mild and rainy with cool nights, while winters are long, cold, and very snowy. Due to Klyuchi being located in the interior, the maritime influence is less than for

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky ( rus, Петропавловск-Камчатский, a=Петропавловск-Камчатский.ogg, p=pʲɪtrɐˈpavləfsk kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj) is a city and the administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultur ...

References

External links

Unofficial website of Klyuchi
{{Authority control Rural localities in Kamchatka Krai Populated places established in 1731 Road-inaccessible communities of Russia