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History–Tours
19911991–1994 · Paldiski, Pakri Peninsula

The last Russian troops leave the Baltic states

The empty former Soviet naval base headquarters at Paldiski across a bare field in May 1996
Archival image: Sludge G. CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

When the Baltic states regained independence in 1991, tens of thousands of former Soviet troops, now under Russian command, stayed in their bases. After tense negotiations the last units left Lithuania in August 1993 and Estonia and Latvia in August 1994, though Russia ran the Skrunda radar in Latvia until 1998. Abandoned naval ports, missile silos and closed military towns are now museums or half-empty districts.

Sites

  1. Site 1: PaldiskiFormer closed Soviet naval town, home to a submarine reactor training centre until 1995.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Karosta, LiepājaTsarist and Soviet naval base, with a military prison that offers tours.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Plokštinė missile base (Cold War Museum)Underground nuclear missile silos in the forest, now Lithuania's Cold War Museum.Map ↗

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