Verkhnaya Zaimka Air Base

Military downsizing and economic collapse. With the end of the Cold War, the perceived strategic threat to the USSR diminished. The new Russian Federation could not afford to maintain the vast network of Soviet-era military installations. As a reserve/dispersal airfield, Verkhnaya Zaimka was considered non-essential during the massive military restructuring and budget cuts of the 1990s and was subsequently abandoned.

The site is completely abandoned and in a state of severe dereliction. Analysis of recent satellite imagery shows the concrete runway, taxiways, and dispersal pads are heavily deteriorated, with extensive cracking, subsidence, and significant vegetation growth. All associated buildings, including barracks, hangars, and technical facilities, have been dismantled, scavenged for materials, or have collapsed into ruins. The air base is non-operational and inaccessible, slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding Siberian taiga.

Verkhnaya Zaimka was a strategic reserve airfield ('zapasnoy aerodrom') for the Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO). Constructed during the Cold War, likely in the 1970s, its primary mission was to provide air defense for the critically important Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railway and the northern Baikal region. It was not the permanent home of an air regiment but was designed as a dispersal base to host fighter-interceptor aircraft (such as Su-15 'Flagon', MiG-23 'Flogger', or MiG-31 'Foxhound') from primary air bases in Siberia (like Bratsk or Belaya) in the event of war. This dispersal tactic was intended to make the air forces less vulnerable to a pre-emptive strike. The base featured a long runway (approximately 2,500 meters) and numerous hardened aircraft revetments, typical of Soviet military airfields of that era.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the air base. The cost to restore the runway and rebuild the entire infrastructure from scratch would be prohibitive. Furthermore, there is no modern strategic or economic justification for its reactivation, especially with the active civilian Nizhneangarsk Airport (ICAO: UIUN) located just 20 km to the west, which serves the region's transportation needs. The site is considered permanently closed.