Belushya Guba, Russia

Transportation

 

Description of Belushya Guba

Belushya Guba is a urban-type settlement of the Arkhangelsk region of the Russian Federation, the main permanent settlement of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The administrative center of the urban district and district Novaya Zemlya. Northeast is the village of Rogachevo. Located in the border area. The settlement is located in the southwestern part of the South Island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago on the peninsula of Gusinaya Zemlya, on the shore of the Belushya Guba bay.

 

The whole Novaya Zemlya archipelago, including Belushya Guba, is an area of military restricted access (formally, as part of border security zone), and a special permit is needed to visit the archipelago. It is basically a Russian version of Area 51. About 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) northeast of Belushya Guba is the settlement of Rogachevo, the second largest in the archipelago, along with the Rogachevo airbase.

 

History of Belushya Guba

In 1886, the founder of Nenets literature and artist Tyko Vylka was born here and until 1956 headed Novaya Zemlya.

In 1893, the first cartography of this place was made by the researcher S. A. Moiseev.

In 1894, during a visit to Novaya Zemlya by the Arkhangelsk governor A.P. Engelgardt, a decision was made to create a new camp.

In 1896, the bay was explored by a cartographic expedition on the screw transport "Samoyed" under the leadership of Lieutenant A. M. Bukhteev.

The work together with them was carried out by the White Sea hydrographers N.V. Morozov and N.M. Deploransky, the ship’s commander V.A. Lil’e and officers I.I. S. Botkin.

Bukhteev made significant clarifications of existing maps; the results of the work were summarized by Morozov in the book "The Pilot of the Samoyed Coast ...", published in 1896.

New names appeared on the map in honor of the expedition members: Capes Lilye and Morozov, Nazimov Bay, Gavrilov Bay and Samoyed Bay, named after the expedition ship. On the shore of this bay, the Belushya Guba camp arose in 1897. On the map of Novaya Zemlya, compiled from Russian inventories of 1821-1870 and published by the Hydrographic Department of the Naval Ministry in 1871, the bay is called Bluzhya Guba (through "g").

September 17, 1954 is considered to be the birthday of the village, when the Novaya Zemlya nuclear test site was founded here. On February 27, 1992, the President of the Russian Federation signed Decree No. 194 "On the test site at Novaya Zemlya". By this decree, it was defined as the Central Test Site of the Russian Federation (CP RF).

In 1957-1958, the 73rd separate division of submarines of the Northern Fleet under the command of V. G. Kichev was based in Belushya Bay. This first and only experience of basing submarines on Novaya Zemlya was unsuccessful due to excessively harsh conditions.

In September 2007, the 110th anniversary of the formation of the village of Belushya Guba was celebrated.

 

Geography and climate

The settlement is located in the southwestern part of the South Island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago on the Gusinaya Zemlya peninsula, on the shore of Belushya Bay. The village of Rogachevo is located northeast of Belushya Guba.

The climate in the village is tundra; temperatures are very low, even during the warm months of the year. According to the Köppen climate classification, it has an arctic climate (ET index). The average temperature for the year is -4.5 °C, the average annual rainfall is 349 mm.

 

Infrastructure

At present, the command bodies of the Central training ground of the Russian Federation are located in Belushya Bay. There is a secondary school for 560 children, a kindergarten for 80 children, 12 residential buildings, one hotel, a shop, a hairdresser's, a photo studio, a consumer services complex, an Orbita television and radio station, a branch 1080 of the central military hospital for 150 beds, a clinic, an officer's house, a soldier's a club, a sports complex with a 25-meter swimming pool, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, there is also a bank.

 

Broadcasting

70.37 - "Radio Yunost"
68.00 - "Radio Russia" / "Radio Pomorie".
103.5 - "Radio Russia" / "Radio Pomorie".

 

TV broadcast

5 TVK TK "NTV" (analogue TV);
7 TVK TK "Russia-1" + Regional broadcasting of the State TV and Radio Company "Pomorye" (analogue TV);
9 TVK TK "Channel One" (analogue TV);
23 TVK IK "Next TV" (analogue TV);
25 TVK RTRS-1 (first multiplex);
27 TVK RTRS-2 (second multiplex).

 

Transportation

There are two regular flights weekly from Arkhangelsk to Rogachevo Airport, located 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north-east of the settlement (in the time-tables, Rogachyovo is designated as Amderma-2, though the settlement of Amderma is not even located on Novaya Zemlya). There is no regular passenger navigation.