Vorkuta

Etymology

The name is derived from the Nenets word varkuta, meaning 'numerous bears'.

History

In 1930, the geologist Georgy Chernov (1906–2009) discovered substantial coal fields by the river Vorkuta. Georgy Chernov's father, the geologist Alexander Chernov (1877–1963), promoted the development of the Pechora coal basin, which included the Vorkuta fields. With this discovery the coal-mining industry started in the Komi ASSR. At the time, only the southern parts of the field were included in the Komi ASSR. The northern part, including Vorkuta, belonged to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast. In 1931, a geologist settlement was established by the coal field, with most of the workers being inmates of the Ukhta-Pechora Camp of the GULAG (Ухтпечлаг, Ukhtpechlag).

One of the largest coal mine disasters in Russia occurred at Vorkuta coal mine on February 28, 2016, when leaking methane gas ignited and killed 32 people, including 26 trapped miners who had been stranded by a similar explosion three days earlier that had killed four miners.

A CNN report in March 2021 described the villages surrounding Vorkuta as "ghost towns", with many "abandoned structures".

Forced labour camp

Main article: Vorkutlag

The origins of the town of Vorkuta are associated with Vorkutlag, one of the most notorious forced-labour camps of the Gulag. Vorkutlag was established in 1932 with the start of mining. It was the largest of the Gulag camps in European Russia and served as the administrative centre for a large number of smaller camps and subcamps, among them Kotlas, Pechora, and Izhma (modern Sosnogorsk). The Vorkuta uprising, a major rebellion by the camp inmates, occurred in 1953.

In 1941, Vorkuta and the labour camp system based around it were connected to the rest of the world by a prisoner-built rail line linking Konosha, Kotlas, and the camps of Inta. Town status was granted to Vorkuta on November 26, 1943.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with eight urban-type settlements (Komsomolsky, Mulda, Oktyabrsky, Promyshlenny, Severny, Vorgashor, Yeletsky, and Zapolyarny) and seven rural localities, incorporated as the town of republic significance of Vorkuta—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of republic significance of Vorkuta is incorporated as Vorkuta Urban Okrug.

Economy

By the early 21st century, many mines had closed as problems with the high costs of operation plagued the mine operators. Near the end of the 20th century there were labor actions in the area by miners; in the late '80s due to political changes, and during the 1990s by those who had not been paid for a year.

Transport

The town is served by Vorkuta Airport. During the Cold War, an Arctic Control Group forward staging base for strategic bombers was located at Vorkuta Sovetsky.

Geography

Vorkuta is located in the Polar Urals (thus, the city is geographically located in Europe), on the Vorkuta River about 150 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle and only 180 kilometers from the coast of the Arctic Ocean. It is located in the permafrost zone. The distance by road (there is no permanent highway, therefore, including winter roads) to Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic, is 1100 km.

It belongs to the regions of the Far North and is part of the land territories of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation.

Vorkuta is located east of Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk, while Moscow time has been in effect in the city since October 26, 2014. UTC+3. Thus, the average sunny afternoon in Vorkuta begins at 10:44 a.m. (this is the earliest average sunny afternoon in the world). This leads to the fact that, for example, on September 23 (the day of the autumnal equinox), sunrise occurs at 04:30 and sunset at 16:41, and also to the fact that twice a year the sun rises in Vorkuta in the evening (before 00:00) and sets in the morning (before 12:00).

Climate

Vorkuta has a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) with short cool summers and very cold, long, and snowy winters. The average February temperature is about -20 C, and in July it is about +13 C. Vorkuta's climate is influenced both by its distance from the North Atlantic and the proximity to the Arctic Ocean, bringing cold air in spring. This extends winters well into May and hinders the characteristic interior Russian summer warmth from reaching the city but for rare instances. In spite of this, Vorkuta has less severe winters than areas much further south in Siberia courtesy of the minor maritime moderation that reaches it. This also means that temperatures below -50 C have never been recorded in any winter month but December. During the winter, above-freezing temperatures are rare, but have occurred in all 12 months. With winters being humid, snowfall is much more common than in areas further east and a sizeable snow pack is built up each year. Due to the moderately warm summers, Vorkuta lies below the Arctic tree line.

The polar day in Vorkuta lasts from May 30 to July 14, the polar night lasts from December 17 to 27.

|Jan record high C=1.1 |Feb record high C=1.2 |Mar record high C=5.3 |Apr record high C=12.0 |May record high C=26.5 |Jun record high C=31.0 |Jul record high C=33.8 |Aug record high C=30.0 |Sep record high C=24.2 |Oct record high C=15.6 |Nov record high C=4.8 |Dec record high C=3.5 |year record high C=33.8 |Jan record low C = -48.0 |Feb record low C = -49.4 |Mar record low C = -43.1 |Apr record low C = -38.5 |May record low C = -25.3 |Jun record low C = -8.4 |Jul record low C = -1.0 |Aug record low C = -4.8 |Sep record low C = -10.5 |Oct record low C = -29.0 |Nov record low C = -45.1 |Dec record low C = -52.0 |year record low C = -52.0

Crumbling permafrost

Vorkuta lies on the edge of the continuous permafrost boundary in Russia, and scientists predict that continued warming could advance the border of continuous permafrost hundreds of miles northward, weakening the earth beneath the vast infrastructure built during the days of the Soviet Union's industrialization of the Arctic.

Natural monuments

• Vorkuta Geological Monument, It is located on the territory of Vorkuta, on the right bank of the Vorkuta River above the TPP-1 dam. Rocky outcrops of Lower Permian rocks, up to 4 m high. The length is 400 m. The first coking coal outlets discovered by G. A. Chernov. Security regime — reserved.
• Mount Pemboy, geological monument of nature, elevation — 421 m.
• The complex reserve "Ridge", established in 1989, with an area of 4,000 hectares.
• Vorkuta Meadow Monument It includes seeded meadows in the "Dead End" and "Seventh Post" tracts of the Central State farm of the Vorkutaugol association. It was created by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Komi ASSR dated March 29, 1984. Long-term meadows in the "Dead End" tract were laid on two sites in 1958 and 1972 after the development of the Yernikov-moss tundra by sowing meadow bluegrass and meadow foxtail. The total area of the natural monument is 20 hectares. Security mode — customized.
• Halmer-Yu Waterfall on the Halmeryu River is one of the largest waterfalls in the European part of Russia, located 25 km north of the village of Halmer—Yu. The total height of the water drop is 10 m. A natural monument protected by the state.
• Buredan waterfall on the Kara River (Polar Urals). The waterfall is located 9 km below the mouth of the Nerusoveyakhi River in the center of a two-kilometer canyon.
• Marble Canyon on the Kara River.

Demographics

|1943 | 7000 |1959 | 55668 |1970 | 89742 |1979 | 100210 |1989 | 115646 |2002 | 84917 |2010 | 70548 |2021 | 56985

After peaking at 115,000 in 1989, Vorkuta experienced a steady population decline, with many parts of the town abandoned. By 2021, the population had declined by 50% to 57,000.

As of the 2021 Census, the ethnic composition of Vorkuta was:

• Russians – 81.7%
• Ukrainians – 4.2%
• Kyrgyz – 2.4%
• Tatars – 1.7%
• Komi – 1.3%
• Azerbaijanis – 1.1%
• Others – 7.6%

According to the former head of the executive committee of the local branch of the United Russia party, Anton Glushkov, the city's population statistics are very different from the real state of affairs. According to him, "25,000 to 35,000 people" allegedly live in the municipality of the urban district of Vorkuta. The rest, in his opinion, are registered by registration but have already moved to the regions of Russia south of the Arctic Circle. One way or another, Vorkuta is the leading city in the Komi Republic and Russia in terms of population reduction.

Notable people

• Pavel Kulizhnikov, multiple gold medalist in World and European championship speed skating, youngest speed skater to win and world record holder for fastest 500m speed
• Andrei Nikolishin, National Hockey League player
• Nikolay Punin, husband of poet Anna Akhmatova; art scholar, writer and editor of Russian magazine publications; co-founder of Department of Iconography in the State Russian Museum
• Bella Ratchinskaia, ballet choreographer

In popular culture

In 2021, Moscow-based photographer Maria Passer photographed abandoned scenes in Vorkuta as part of a photography project that also included the villages of Cementozavodsky and Severny.

In the 2010 video game by Activision, Call of Duty: Black Ops, the player character escapes from the labor camp in the town of Vorkuta in the game’s second mission.

The 2025 video game Z.A.T.O. // I Love the World and Everything In It takes place in the fictional closed city of Vorkuta-5 during late 1985 to early 1986. Vorkuta-5 was inspired by the real-life urban-type settlement of Sovetsky, which became a part of Vorkuta in 2002.

References

Notes

Sources

• Adapted from the article Vorkuta, from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

References

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