Smuravyevo (Russian: Смуравьёво) (also Gdov or Smurav'yevo) is a former airbase of the Russian Air Force and former

closed city A closed city or closed town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied so that specific authorization is required to visit or remain overnight. Such places may be sensitive military establishments or secret research ins ...

Pskov Oblast Pskov Oblast (russian: Пско́вская о́бласть, ') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the west of the country. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

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 ...

Location

This medium-sized base is located 14 km northeast of

Gdov Gdov (russian: Гдов) is a town and the administrative center of Gdovsky District in Pskov Oblast, Russia, located on the river Gdovka, just from its outflow into Lake Peipus. Population: History It was first mentioned in the beginning of ...

, 63 km south of

Ivangorod Ivangorod ( rus, Иванго́род, p=ɪvɐnˈɡorət; et, Jaanilinn; vot, Jaanilidna) is a town in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the east bank of the Narva river which flows along the Estonia–Russia inte ...

and from

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

History

The symbol of the town was a

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, De ...

, on a plinth, and the base was home to the 722nd Bomber Aviation Regiment (722 BAP) flying

Sukhoi Su-24 The Sukhoi Su-24 ( NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, twin-engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for its crew of two. It wa ...

aircraft. The 722nd Bomber Aviation Regiment was supervised by the 149th Mixed Aviation Division, also located at the base. It was part of the

76th Air Army The 76th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949–1980, and again from 1988–98. As the 13th Air Army, it was originally formed on 25 November 1942 and based on air units of the Leningrad Front. 13th Air Army's initial components ...

during collapse of

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and after a reorganisation in 1998, the 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army until the town's closure. In 1994, many servicemen and pilots were resettled here from the units located previously in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. The town's population at the time was about 4000 residents. Circa 2010, the base was closed.

Closure of town and airport

Occurring during the 2008 reforms implemented by then defence minister

Anatoliy Serdyukov Anatoly Eduardovich Serdyukov (russian: Анатолий Эдуардович Сердюков; born 8 January 1962) is a Russian politician and businessman. He was Russia's Minister of Defense from 15 February 2007 to 6 November 2012, and made ...

, locals did not welcome the closure of the airport, as it left hundreds unemployed without suitable alternatives. The gas supply for residents was cut off and the town was left to crumble. Firewood is currently used but it is an outdated and expensive option, partially due to the condition of heating systems. In 2020, the head of local municipal services Aleksandr Moyseyev stated that the town's buildings have been completely worn out and half of the town's residents are military retirees. Also, the water systems are in bad shape – locals are already living without reliable water supply, and the local water tower has been nicknamed as "The leaning tower of Pisa". If the tower collapses, the town would also lose the water supply. As the water quality has already declined to the point where it is undrinkable, locals have been forced to get their drinking water from the spring located 1.5 km outside of the town in a village of Lyubimets. The construction of a school in the area between the town's residential buildings and the airfield was halted when the military withdrew, leaving only 2 out of 3 floors of the school finished. Looters have been demolishing the building, and according to the local residents, the current state of the school has deteriorated to the point that it seems a suitable place to make a film about war in Syria or some other conflict.

References

Soviet Air Force bases Soviet Frontal Aviation Pskov Oblast Russian Air Force bases {{fort-stub