Little Moscow Ghost Town

Photos by Darko Vojinovic

Little Moscow lies in ruins. Once a Soviet base where the Red Army may have kept a stockpile of nuclear weapons, the abandoned facility today looks like a set for a post-apocalyptic film.

In this photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, a building that used to house military personnel stands in an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

The barracks, similar to prefab apartment blocks found across eastern Europe, still hold outmoded kitchen appliances and wrecked furniture. Many of the military installations are rusted and moldy. A large painting of a red flag covered with the faces of communist icons Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin provides one of the few dashes of color.

This photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 shows a door to a nuclear storage bunker inside an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Located in a wooded area near the village of Nagyvazsony in central Hungary, the base nicknamed “Little Moscow” by locals was one of four nuclear storage facilities in the country. It was abandoned by the Soviets in March 1990, shortly before Hungary’s first post-communist elections. Historians say there is no documentation on whether the Soviets ever stored nuclear weapons there.

The former base covering 36 hectares (89 acres) was protected by three lines of fences and barbed wire and numerous checkpoints and gates. Nuclear warheads would have been stored on the northern side of the base, in a pair of bunkers protected by doors weighing more than six tons.

Click on any image to launch the Little Moscow Ghost Town gallery.

In this photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, mailboxes remain on a wall inside a building that used to house military personnel in an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. Abandoned by the Soviets in March 1990, a few months after the fall of the Berlin Wall and just weeks before Hungary’s first post-communist elections, the base looks like a set for a post-Apocalyptic film. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

In this photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, Gyula Heiner, a Hungarian blogger and military enthusiast, enters a nuclear storage bunker inside an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

In this photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, Gyula Heiner, a Hungarian blogger and military enthusiast, stands inside a nuclear storage bunker at an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

In this photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, a graphic displaying Soviet army personnel stands on a rusted metal sign inside an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

In this photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, a dog guards an in an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

This photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 shows a building that used to house military personnel in an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

This photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 shows an abandoned flat that used to house military personnel in an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

This photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, shows an entrance to a building that used to house military personnel in an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

In this photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 a mural depicting Communist icons, from left, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin hangs on a wall of a bomb assembly and repair facility in an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

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Text from the AP news story, AP PHOTOS: Soviet base in Hungary now a ghost town, by Darko Vojinovic.

Lead Image Caption: In this photo taken Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 a mural depicting Communist icons, from left, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin hangs on a wall of a bomb assembly and repair facility in an abandoned ex-Soviet military base near Nagyvazsony, Hungary. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

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