Soltsy Air Base
58.13N 030.33E
Attacks on Russian airfields by Ukrainian forces destroyed two TU-22M bombers and damaged two more, Ukraine’s intelligence chief said 24 August 2023. The United Kingdom’s military intelligence also said that Russia was likely to have lost a nuclear-capable TU-22M3 supersonic long-range bomber in an attack on the Soltsy military airfield in the Novgorod region. “Two were destroyed, two were damaged. Two cannot be repaired,” Ukraine intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said in a TV interview for the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Budanov said a fifth Russian aircraft may have been hit in the attacks. “These were people who carried out certain tasks from the Russian territory,” he said of the attackers who had destroyed the planes. Russian officials reported drone attacks on the Soltsy airfield on 20 August 2023 and Shaykovka airfield in the Kaluga region on 22 August 2023. Russia said that one warplane was damaged during the first attack.
Soltsy is an air base (air base, AB) in the Novgorod region, two kilometers north of the city of Soltsy. As of 1998, Tu-22M3 bombers were stationed at airbases in Soltsy and Shaykovka. The length of the runway is 3000 meters, the surface is concrete. The airfield, which has the longest runway in the region, continues to be serviced by the Ministry of Defense as a base for training military pilots and during exercises of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Airfield repairs were conducted in 2019-2020. The Soltsy airfield is used to receive government aircraft during visits to Novgorod by the country's top officials.
From June 20 to June 25, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' and in agreement with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the 5th All-Russian training and methodological gathering of the clergy who serve the military personnel was held.
On June 23, 2007, the consecration of the Tu-95MS aircraft (also from the 22nd Guards Red Banner Donbass Heavy Bomber Aviation Division , but from the 184th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, Engels ) took place at the Soltsy airbase, which received the name "Veliky Novgorod". It was this aircraft that participated in the MAKS-2007 air show at the end of August 2007. Training sessions were continued in the garrison of the Long-Range Aviation Soltsy, Novgorod Region. It hosted a seminar on the ministry of a priest in "hot spots". Beginning in July of this year, Orthodox clergy will be constantly at the disposition of the group of federal troops in the North Caucasus. It was decided to establish a schedule of regular trips for priests of the Russian Orthodox Church to Chechnya. The participants of the seminar discussed the problems of the work of the priest with the personnel in emergency situations, the relationship of the clergy with the command, security, etc. The meeting was followed by a tour of the garrison. The participants of the training camp visited the gym, the Museum of Military Glory of the Aviation Regiment, got acquainted with the design of combat bomber aircraft.
Tu-22M3 840 TBAP bombers, consisting of three aircraft, took part in the parade on Red Square on May 9, 2008 in honor of the 63rd anniversary of the Great Victory over Nazi Germany. Also, the Tu-22M3 aircraft of the regiment participated in the Parade on Red Square on May 9, 2010 in honor of the 65th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War.
Tu-22M aircraft of the 840th heavy bomber regiment, part of the 22nd TBAD, were stationed at the airbase. The 840th Red Banner Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment was based in the city of Soltsy, Novgorod Region, for more than 50 years. The decision to disband it was taken hard in the district, with the departure of the regiment, the city lost both young professionals and entire families, the school was empty, the issues of maintaining the property of the Ministry of Defense and lands belonging to the military department became problematic. Now, two military units are still functioning on the territory of the military camp - a repair and technical base and an aviation commandant's office, and the main task of the Solets garrison is to maintain the airfield in combat readiness.
In 2011, the regiment was disbanded, but negotiations were underway to restore the regiment. Senator Alexander Korovnikov is negotiating with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on the return of the aviation regiment to the city of Soltsy, Novgorod Region, which was disbanded in 2010-2011. “I will meet with Shoigu in order to return our garrison from Engels,” Korovnikov said 04 August 2016, noting that planes from the air base in Engels are now flying to Soltsy for refueling.
On the territory of the Solecki military town, according to the senator, meanwhile, there are empty apartments, which are maintained at the expense of the municipality. The senator also intends to discuss with the Minister of Defense the problem of an abandoned military hospital in the center of Veliky Novgorod, on the embankment of the Gzen River.
At the Soltsy airfield (Novgorod region), training sessions began 26 Septmber 2012 to prepare long-range aviation crews for flights during the so-called meteorological minimum of weather. Meteorological minimum is the minimum height of the lower boundary of clouds and horizontal visibility at which takeoff, landing and flight along the route is possible. Separate meteorological minimums are set for each aerodrome, type of aircraft, pilot. If, for example, a pilot is cleared to land at 350 m visibility and 30 m cloud base, the aircraft is certified to fly at a higher visibility category, and the airport only accepts aircraft at 550 m visibility and 60 m cloud base, then the key to making a landing decision will be the weather minimum of the airport as the maximum of the three.
In total, about 10 crews from the Ukrainka air base (Amur Region) were involved in this event. Tu-95ms aircraft were involved in the training, on which the crews of the Long-Range Aviation are to make more than 110 sorties. Flight performance under limited weather conditions is, first of all, the mobilization of the best flying, professional qualities of pilots and navigators. A lot depends on the ability to fly an aircraft in extreme weather conditions, to land with limited visibility, and often everything - the successful solution of the task assigned to the crew, the life of the landing group or the passengers of the aircraft. The training camp is held under the leadership of the deputy commander of the Ukrainka airbase, Colonel Yevgeny Dmitriev. The events ran until October 1st.
Getting to the territory of the military camp has not been a problem for a long time, the airfield itself is under protection. Its capabilities are used to the maximum. It did not repeat the sad fate of the airfield in Krechevitsy. And although there were no pilots in Soltsy, there is an aviation commandant's office, whose duties include maintaining the runway in full combat readiness, as well as ground support for flights.
"The airfield in Soltsy remained the only one in the North-West, which has the longest runway. It can receive all types of aircraft, including Ruslans, the largest in the world,” said Yury Lebed, commander of military unit 33310-A, on 02 October 2020. "In August and September, it was used during the military exercises of Russia and Belarus "West-2017". Three regiments were deployed at once from Shaikovka", Tambov and Sevastopol.
By the way, all visits of the first persons of the state to the Novgorod region begin precisely with Soltsov, whose airfield is also designed to meet presidential planes. According to Yuri Alekseevich, a major overhaul of the airfield is scheduled for 2019-2020. It is planned to demolish old buildings in its area and build new ones, the runway canvas will be updated. Reconstruction will be done by engineering battalions. The commander exhales with relief - given the foreign political situation, there should be no more cuts in long-range aviation. Everything has been reduced, it needs to be restored.
The sky over Soltsy is also actively used for training flight crews. They fly in specifically to “catch a difficult one” - in the slang of pilots, this means taking off and landing in difficult weather conditions with poor visibility and fog. The pilots practice their skills - the windows in their cockpit are closed with curtains, and the aircraft is controlled only according to the instruments and instructions of the flight director from the airfield control tower.
Conscripts serve in the unit, but there are few of them. “They are given two salads to choose from in the dining room, four types of juices, two second courses, and if they want both a cutlet and meat, they will feed them both,” he explained that there were no infringements on the rights of soldiers.
The Solets garrison had a hard time with the reduction of the regiment, part of the aircraft and equipment was given to another part. Those cars that needed serious repairs were sent to the guillotine. We thought it would be cheaper to cut them on the spot. This was done by civilians, pilots, veterans of the regiment, who remained retired in Soltsy, perceived this procedure as murder.
By 2020, there was only one Tu-22M3 in the Solecki garrison. In the region and beyond, many are well aware that this type of bomber-missile carrier, which the pilots themselves affectionately call "troechka", has become a symbol of Soltsy. By the way, during the existence of the 840th regiment, its personnel mastered six types of aircraft. The existing bomber was out of order, the commandant's office had been waiting for a government decision on it for a year and a half. If it is recognized that it is no longer suitable for flying, then the authorities of the military unit will insist on making a monument out of it. But he is skeptical about the possibility of reanimating the air base in Soltsy.
"The question of quartering immediately arises. The military town was given to the district administration. She provided all the empty apartments to those who needed them - this is now her privilege. Apartments for military personnel are also rented out in the social network. For the base, it is necessary to build two or three residential buildings,"- said the deputy commander of the unit Andrey SHEMYAKIN. "When the aviation commandant's offices were created, they didn’t really go into what kind of staff should be, they took into account only specialists with a narrow focus. It was assumed that the commandant's office would be removed after some time. But the strategy in the country has changed, and they were needed. Every year our unit applies for an increase. We are few, but we manage."
Many buildings in the garrison are in disrepair. The most offensive of all for the one in which the House of Officers was once located. Disconnected from heating, it slowly collapses. Perhaps the only bright and fresh building is the museum. It opened in May 2012 and is still expanding and replenishing. One hall contains exhibits dedicated to the history of the regiment, the other contains artifacts discovered by Dolina search engines, and the third contains household items from the USSR. The plans are to recreate the arrangement of a Russian hut of the 19th century. The museum already on the street attracts attention with its unusual collection. Its leader, Viktor PRYPUY, has a joke: for children from the military camp, swings and slides are replaced by an exposition of bombs and rockets. The most impressive is the nine-ton. These were used in Afghanistan - with their mass they pierced the mountains.
"You are involuntarily imbued with respect for the Soviet military power - the models are all of the 50s of the last century." And, as Viktor Grigoryevich said, in the past the political officer of the unit, "some are still used now, they strike at terrorist targets in Syria, which is banned in the Russian Federation by ISIS. In the museum, next to the "forty-five" of the Great Patriotic War, you can also see the "aircraft carrier killer", already withdrawn from service."
Viktor Grigoryevich conducts excursions for schoolchildren from the Solets and Shimsky districts. The museum is known both by Muscovites and residents of the northern capital. Not without pride, he noticed that his museum is interactive - objects, including weapons, allow you to hold them in your hands. Admission is free, anyone who wants to open the door.
On August 19, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine , around 10:00 local time, the airbase was attacked by missiles or drones that Russia claimed were launched from Ukrainian territory 620 km away. It is reported that at least two Tu-22M long-range bombers were seriously damaged.
All measures to eliminate the consequences of the drone attack against a military airfield in the town of Soltsy, the Novgorod Region, have been completed, the head of the Soltsy municipal district Maxim Timofeyev said on his Telegram channel. "At the moment, all measures to eliminate the consequences [of the UAV attack] have been completed. Nothing threatens the civilian population and infrastructure. All organizations are working normally," Timofeyev said.
As the Russian Defense Ministry said, Kiev carried out an attack with a copter-type drone on a military airfield in the Novgorod Region. The incident occurred at around 10 a.m. Moscow time. The UAV was detected by the airfield's observation post and shot down with small arms fire. As a result of the attack on the territory of the airfield, a fire started at the aircraft parking area. It was promptly extinguished by firefighting crews. The Defense Ministry said one aircraft was damaged. There were no casualties.
The head of the region, Andrey Nikitin, said that the situation after the drone attack in the Novgorod Region was under control and calm. All necessary security measures have been taken.
City of Soltsy
Soltsy is a district center with a population of about 12 thousand people. The city covers an area of 10 sq. km. More than 20 industrial and construction and repair enterprises operate here. Among them: the plant "Ellips" (production of magnetic circuits), JSC "Fang" (gloves, mittens), two food processing plants, a bakery. Flax, potatoes, grain crops are grown in the Solecki district. Meat and dairy cattle breeding is practiced. Deposits of limestone, brick clay, sand and gravel mixtures, and peat have been explored. Soltsy is one of the most ancient cities of the Novgorod region, standing on the Shelon River. The city of Soltsy is over six centuries old: the first mention dates back to 1390. The Novgorod Chronicle says: “In the summer of 1390, Novgorodians with Prince Semyon Olgerdovich went to the Pskov war and became in Solts ...” “Even earlier, in 1239, one of the settlements - Fortresses called Gorodok, which is located 3 km from the city, were founded by Prince Alexander Nevsky to protect Novgorod lands from enemies.
Soltsy owe their name to the numerous salty springs gushing out of the ground along the left bank of the Shelon. In the old days, salt was evaporated from these sources. The healing properties of these springs have also been highly valued since ancient times. As Soltsy developed from village to village, then to the town, its administrative significance also grew.
Souvenir-saltcellar reflects the history of the city of Soltsy and is associated with the image of a salt merchant, a Varangian. According to the explanatory dictionary of V. I. Dahl, the word "Varangian" in Russia meant not a hired warrior (Norman), but a peddler. In the lands far from Rus', where the trade in salt was an unsafe business, both merchants and hired soldiers guarding them were called Varangians. The souvenir is based on the figure of a bear, its image is on the coat of arms of Veliky Novgorod and the city of Soltsy.
In December 1579, Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible issued a Decree on the organization of a wheeled settlement in Soltse. Charioteers and carpenters were gathered from all over the Novgorod land. The wheel master Rynok Rigin and his comrades were taken "in the village in Soltse, a settler" . There were 29 yards of wheel masters on the settlement. In addition to Soltsa, the charioteers were allocated a large area 5 versts long and 3 versts wide with the Musetsky churchyard and the village of Soletskoye Zaborovye. With the letter of grant from Ivan the Terrible, the charioteers were exempted from all taxes, camps and other duties. Sloboda was ruled by "peace". In the first years of the existence of the settlement, the headman Ryk Rigin headed the Solecki charioteers. The charioteers had to do“Drags, and boards for mills, and wheels, and shafts, and axles, and wads, and all sorts of wooden cannon stocks, and to carry to Veliky Novgorod and Pskov ... lime and walnut coal and for green business (i.e. for gunpowder production) to carry to Veliky Novgorod " . For 200 years, the Kolesnaya Sloboda supplied the Russian army with its products.
On March 10, 1781, Empress Catherine II issues a decree: “We most mercifully command the former artillery department, the settlement of Soltsy, which lies in the Pskov viceroy on the way from the city of Porkhov to Novogorod on the Shelon River, to establish a township, allowing it to have its own Town Hall ... and appropriating all those the rights that the petty-bourgeoisie in such settlements living in the auctions, crafts and exercises of each, on the basis of our laws, can be peculiar ”(Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire, volume XXI).
Numerous dynasties of merchants developed in Soltsy - Ardamatsky, Bogrov, Vanyukov, Krasikov, Bogovsky, Yulin, Dubetsky, who donated a lot of money to charitable purposes (church, schools, almshouse). The way of life of the settlement, its historical development was reflected in its culture. Cobbled streets, stone houses, large manufacturing shops, small shops and craft workshops - this is the appearance of the city at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries.
Folk crafts flourished in the village: spinning, weaving, needlework, blacksmithing. The Ilyinsky Fairs, which took place in the Posad from July 20 to 28, were widely known; the turnover of each was 90-100 thousand gold rubles. After the outbreak of the First World War, in 1915 the city received the status of a resort city , since the merchant family of the Bogovskys opened a sanatorium for wounded officers in one of their estates. Later, in the late 20'syears, on the basis of the sanatorium, a balneological and mud resort was organized, which has three sources of mineral water belonging to the group of North Caucasian Narzans. There was enough water not only for local needs, but also for pouring into special bottles. This was done by a mineral water plant opened nearby. At that time the city was also known as the center of the flax trade.
After the outbreak of the First World War, in 1915 the city received the status of a resort city, since the merchant family of the Bogovskys opened a sanatorium for wounded officers in one of their estates. Later, at the end of the 1920s, a balneological and mud resort was organized on the basis of the sanatorium, which has three sources of mineral water belonging to the group of North Caucasian Narzans. There was enough water not only for local needs, but also for pouring into special bottles. This was done by a mineral water plant opened nearby. At that time the city was also known as the center of the flax trade.
In 1927, according to the new administrative division, Soltsy became the city - the center of the Solets region, which, together with the Novgorod, Pskov and other lands, entered the newly created western region. In 1930–44 Soltsy were part of the Leningrad region. Since 1944, Soltsy has been a district center of the Novgorod region.
During the Great Patriotic War from 1941 to 1944 the city was under Nazi occupation. Many buildings, including the resort, were destroyed or burned down. In mid-July 1941, near Soltsy, Soviet troops launched one of the first successful counterattacks and delayed the advance of German troops on Leningrad.
The city was badly damaged during the Nazi occupation. But it should be noted that many old stone houses built "for centuries", with a wall thickness of 2.5 bricks, did not suffer too much. This is especially true of the central part of the city, the streets of which were built up with a continuous pediment of stone merchant houses. The surviving parts of the buildings, as well as the availability of some archival graphic and photographic documents, made it possible to carry out extensive work on the reconstruction and restoration of buildings, to restore the former appearance of the building of the streets of the center, which has undeniable architectural, artistic and city-forming advantages. It is especially valuable that the houses that form the "facade" of the streets, closely adjacent to each other or connected by arches, create original expressive architectural ensembles, a historical residential urban environment, giving to today's city features of characteristic and originality. First of all, this applies to the section of Sovetsky Prospekt between its intersection with Lenina Street and Volodarsky Street.
In the post-war period, Soltsy was rebuilt, the Ellips plant, a flax mill, six bases of construction organizations, a hospital, a cultural center, three kindergartens, a regional communications center, two secondary schools, a music school, a department store, and comfortable residential buildings were built. The glory of the city was added by the garrison "Soltsy-2" and the military pilots who inhabited it.
At the beginning of 1946, the district was located on an area of 1026 square meters. km., where 24158 people lived, of which 4480 people in the city and 19678 in the countryside. At the beginning of 1939, the population in the district was 1.6 times more, urban residents - 2 times, rural residents - 1.5 times. On the territory of the district there were 13 village councils, 154 rural settlements, 7969 households.
The area disposed and used mineral reserves, such as limestone (near the village of Dorogostitsy), brick and tile clay (1 km northwest of the town of Soltsy), building sand, gravel. At the end of 1945, 2050 horses were kept in agricultural enterprises (in 1941 - 4558 heads), 6101 heads of cattle (9982 heads), incl. 3039 cows (6464), 5291 sheep and goats (11611 heads), 750 pigs (1238 heads), 760 birds (9115 heads), 70 bee colonies (1788).
There were 7 industrial enterprises in the region with a workforce of 536 people, which is 15% less than in pre-war 1940: a flax mill (the number of workers in 1945 was 36 people), a distillery (119 people), a food processing plant (31 people), industrial complex (88 people), timber industry (106 people), artel of the disabled "Svoi trud" (41 people), artel "Avangard" (115 people). Industrial enterprises produced about 20 types of products, in particular, vodka, raw alcohol, fruit waters, jam, confectionery and culinary products, bricks, lime, tiles, pottery, shoes, felted products, household rope, brushes, brushes, as well as repair shoes, grind flour, dress leather.
In the countryside in the same 1945 there were 128 collective farms and ? state farm. They were served by 2 MTS and 2 MTM. At that time, the MTS had 58 tractors (111 in 1940), 4 machines (there were none in 1940), 3 combines (13), 27 plotters (102), a mower (67), 2 tractor seeders (in 1940 d. - no), 2 cultivators, 5 flax pullers. The equipment of collective farms and state farms was as follows: 9 tractors, 3 motor vehicles, 102 threshers, 73 mowers, 28 sorting machines, 106 winnowers, 22 horse seeders, 1613 horse plows, 172 hillers, 31 flax mills.
By decision of the collegium of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the city of Soltsy was classified as one of the historical settlements of Russia. The city is unique in its historical buildings with merchant mansions and shops, cult buildings: the Old Believer chapel, the wooden Church of the Intercession of the 18th century, the current Ilyinsky Cathedral, built in 1824-1825 in the style of classicism.
In the village of Vybiti, 10 km from Soltsy, there is the family estate of the Vasilchikov princes with a picturesque park and numerous buildings (late 18th - early 19th centuries). The estate is the ancestral home of four generations of the Vasilchikov princes. Illarion Vasilievich - hero of the war of 1812, member of the State Council. Alexander Illarionovich is a Russian public figure and writer, who was a second in the duel between Lermontov and Martynov. Viktor Alexandrovich - military and statesman, general, hero of the Crimean War. Boris Alexandrovich - leader of the Novgorod provincial nobility, minister of land management and agriculture in Stolypin's office, member of the State Council.
Of the sights in the vicinity of the city, one can also note the former estate of the merchants Vanyukovs (19th century) in the village of Gorki. In the village of Molochkovo - the Church of the Assumption (19th century). In the village of Velebitsy there is the Church of St. John the Theologian ( 2nd half of the 19th century).
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