Power, Heating Cut at Russia’s Northern Fleet HQ After Winter Storms

Severe winter storms have knocked out electricity and disrupted heating services in Severomorsk, the closed Russian town that hosts the headquarters of Russia’s Northern Fleet, forcing authorities to switch critical facilities to emergency power systems, Russian officials said.

The outage followed the collapse of aging power transmission infrastructure under harsh weather conditions, highlighting vulnerabilities in utilities serving one of Russia’s most strategically sensitive military regions.

Severomorsk lies on the Kola Bay in the Barents Sea and serves as the command center of the Northern Fleet, Russia’s most important naval formation. The base oversees the country’s largest fleet of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, along with extensive nuclear warhead storage facilities, missile arsenals, and ship maintenance yards.

Murmansk region Governor Andrei Chibis said late Friday that both Murmansk and Severomorsk experienced power outages after several electricity pylons collapsed. Local officials confirmed that as of Sunday, some residential areas in Severomorsk remained without electricity or heating.

Russian media reported that five power transmission towers fell approximately seven kilometers from Murmansk on January 23. Two of the towers dated back to 1966, while others were built in 1982 and 1988, underscoring the age of critical infrastructure in the region.

In response, Vladimir Evmenkov, mayor of Severomorsk, said that vessels of the Northern Fleet docked at the port were transferred to independent power systems to reduce pressure on the civilian electricity grid and ensure operational continuity.

While officials did not report any direct impact on military readiness, the incident has raised questions about the resilience of infrastructure supporting Russia’s Arctic and nuclear naval capabilities, particularly during extreme winter conditions.

Severomorsk is designated a “closed city”, a status applied in Russia to locations near major defense or nuclear facilities. Access is tightly controlled, and entry typically requires special permits, setting it apart from most other Russian municipalities.