Bezrechnaya-2 Air Base

The air base was closed following the disbandment of its resident aviation unit, the 120th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. This closure was a direct result of the large-scale military downsizing and restructuring of the Russian Armed Forces that occurred throughout the 1990s. The primary drivers were the severe economic crisis following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and a significant reduction in military tensions with China, which made maintaining a large forward base in the region economically unfeasible and strategically unnecessary.

The air base is completely abandoned and in a state of advanced decay. Satellite imagery and ground-level photographs confirm that the runway and taxiways are cracked and overgrown with vegetation. The hardened aircraft shelters are empty, and many buildings in both the technical zone and the adjacent military garrison town of Mirnaya are derelict and crumbling. The site is not used for any military or civilian purpose and has effectively become a military ghost town, occasionally visited by urban explorers and photographers.

Bezrechnaya-2 was a key Soviet and later Russian Air Force fighter base, strategically located in the Transbaikal Military District near the borders with China and Mongolia. Its primary mission was air defense and maintaining air superiority in the Far East. The base was home to the elite 120th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (120th GvIAP). During the Cold War, the regiment operated MiG-23MLD fighters. In 1988, it became one of the first frontline units in the Soviet Union to be re-equipped with the advanced 4th-generation MiG-29 (NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) fighter aircraft. The base featured a robust infrastructure, including a long runway and numerous hardened aircraft shelters (HAS) designed to protect aircraft from attack.

There are no known official plans or credible prospects for reopening Bezrechnaya-2 Air Base. The cost to repair the runway, taxiways, and support infrastructure after decades of neglect would be prohibitive. The Russian Ministry of Defence has instead focused on upgrading and consolidating forces at existing, operational air bases in the region, such as Domna Air Base. Given the extensive damage and the current strategic posture, the likelihood of Bezrechnaya-2 being reactivated is considered extremely low to non-existent.