Kamchatka Facility

* Facility
* Prison
* Demogorgon pit
* Radio towers
* Mountain lab door

The Soviet Union controlled a joint **military base**, **research facility** and **labor camp** in the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the far-eastern region of the Russian territories. The grounds were vast, including a laboratory built inside a nearby mountain, as well as a prison containing both human and non-human captives.

## History

### Mid-1980s or earlier

By 1985, the Soviet Union had established a secretive military facility in Kamchatka. The age of the facility was unknown, but judging by its rugged appearance, it had likely been in operation for many years.

### 1983-1985

After American scientists at Hawkins Lab accidentally created a gate to an alternate dimension on November 6, 1983, the Soviet Union eventually learned of the lab's activities. General Stepanov and other officials became hell-bent on creating a Russian-operated gate, hoping access to the other world could give the Soviets an advantage in the Cold War.

Within a year, Soviet scientists had invented 'the Key', an experimental machine that produced gates via a controlled energy beam. However, these machines were volatile and would inevitably malfunction shortly after activation, meaning the resultant Gates could only exist momentarily; the failure of these machines would also fatally electrocute or disintegrate personnel in close proximity to them.

One such incident occurred on June 28, 1984 at the mountain lab in Kamchatka; the fatal discharge released by the machine electrocuted and killed about half a dozen personnel in hazmat suits. Their deaths, along with the machine's failure to keep the portal open, greatly irritated General Stepanov, who told Dr. Alexei he'd face consequences if he failed to produce a stable gate within the next twelve months.

### 1985

#### Early 1985

From 1984 to 1985, the Soviet Union illegally purchased land in Hawkins, Indiana after learning the American town was previously the site of an inter-dimensional incursion, which had weakened the fabric of spacetime. Hoping to exploit this, covert Soviet forces started building an underground base beneath the town, using the concurrent construction of Starcourt Mall above to conceal the base's existence. Inside the base, Soviet scientists successfully used experimental technology to open a gate to an alternate dimension.

During this time, Soviet forces somehow acquired or captured a small pack of predatory creatures - "Demogorgons" - hailing from the other dimension, and either shipped them to Russia, or even bred them within Russia; they even managed to capture a piece of the entity known as the "Mind Flayer". These beings were ultimately stored at the Kamchatka facility, with most of the creatures becoming cryogenically frozen. However, one of the Demogorgons was instead placed inside a cell; guards were ordered to occasionally feed prisoners to the beast, which helped it grow and mature into a full-blown adult. The piece of the Mind Flayer, meanwhile, was trapped in a special cell covered in heating devices, preventing it from escaping.

#### July 1985

Local police chief Jim Hopper successfully led a mission to infiltrate the secret base built beneath Hawkins. While there, his friend Joyce Byers disabled the technology being used to open the gateway. As electrical activity threatened to flood the chamber containing the machine, Hopper leapt for cover and escaped to another level of the facility. However, Red Army soldiers arrived shortly after to capture him. It was decided that he was to be taken to Kamchatka and forced to work at the labor camp.

#### October 1985

Later that year, Red Army soldiers fed a prisoner to the adult Demogorgon, although they chose against giving up their "American" prisoner - Hopper - to the creature.

### 1986

By March 1986, Hopper had struck up a complicated friendship with security guard Dmitri Antonov. Hopper decided he would try to break free, and despite some initial hesitance, Dmitri decided to help him, sending a package containing a hidden message to Hopper's friend Joyce Byers in Lenora Hills, California. The message contained a phone number, which led to her and Dmitri having a brief conversation over phone. Dmitri hurriedly told her to travel to Nome, Alaska and seek out the help of inter-continental smuggler Yuri Ismaylov.

Meanwhile, Hopper attempted to escape the facility, and managed to reach the town of Kyrzran via a stolen snowmobile; however, he was quickly recaptured by Soviet forces and sent back to the facility. Dmitri was also discovered to be helping Hopper; he was stripped of his titles and instantly became another prisoner at the facility.

In Alaska, Joyce and her friend Murray Bauman met with Yuri Ismaylov at the specified rendezvous point in Nome, Alaska. Yuri promised to take them to Russia, but also gave them drugged coffee, causing them to pass out. Yuri tied up the unconscious Joyce and Murray and put them in the back of his plane, and took off to the west. Yuri intended to hand the Americans over to the Soviets, as he knew the intelligence they possessed was potentially valuable. Upon reaching Russia, a scuffle broke out mid-flight; Murray knocked Yuri unconscious, forcing him and Joyce to perform an emergency crash landing as they arrived in Kamchatka.

Guards told Hopper, Dmitri, Oleg and thirteen other prisoners they would soon fight a captured humanoid predator in an arena-like pit; to his horror, Hopper realised the guards were talking about a Demogorgon. The guards took the prisoners to another room; inside, the men discovered many platters of cooked food and alcoholic beverages. The prisoners eagerly began to feast upon the various platters and dishes, but a cynical Hopper saw the truth of things; he explained their captors wanted them fattened-up before being fed to the Demogorgon. Hopper used the situation to his advantage, however, smuggling a small bottle of vodka out of the banquet room before the guards returned.

Meanwhile, at the plane crash site, Murray and Joyce tied up Yuri and took him hostage. After being threatened with abandonment by the Americans, Yuri begrudgingly agreed to help them, giving them directions to his warehouse in Kyrzran and the prison camp. At Yuri's warehouse, Murray devised a plan to infiltrate the prison; he would disguise himself as Yuri, while dressing the captured Yuri up like himself. Pretending to be Yuri, and with Joyce and the fake Murray as his captives, they stood a chance of breaking out Hopper. The three travelled to the prison camp in Yuri's automobile, and Murray's scheme worked; Warden Melnikov failed to see through Murray's disguise, and allowed him and the others into the facility.

Melnikov led the three to a balcony above the arena pit, wanting to show off the Demogorgon's slaughter to Yuri. Hopper, Dmitri and the prisoners entered the pit, and grabbed preprepared makeshift weapons in anticipation of the creature's attack. Hopper took the smuggled vodka out of his jacket pocket, pouring it over a spear and set it aflame with a lighter; this alarmed Melnikov, who demanded to know what Hopper was doing. Moments later, Murray dropped his facade and held Melnikov at gunpoint; at the same time, the Demogorgon was unleashed upon the prisoners. The majority of the prisoners were savaged to death within minutes, but Hopper and Dmitri kept the creature at bay with the flaming spear. After knocking Melnikov and various guards unconscious, Murray and Joyce managed to open the gate out of the arena pit, allowing Hopper and Dmitri to escape. Shortly after, Hopper was amazed to find himself reunited with Joyce and Murray.

The Russian Demogorgon rampaged the facility, killing Ivan and several other guards. The guards' gunfire broke the glass containing the frozen Demodogs and the portion of the Mind Flayer. The portion possessed the Demodogs and together, the Demogorgon and the Demodogs killed all of the remaining inhabitants of the facility. Hopper, Joyce, Murray, Dmitri and Yuri escaped the facility.

Later, however, Hopper, Joyce and Murray returned to the labor camp to kill the Demodogs and Russian Demogorgon to give their children in Hawkins an upper hand against an evil force named Vecna via the Hive Mind of the Upside Down. Hopper lured the Demodogs and Demogorgon. As a Demodog was about to attack Hopper, Joyce electrocuted it. Then, before the Russian Demogorgon could kill Joyce and Hopper, Murray burned it and the Demodogs with a flamethrower from Yuri's warehouse. The Demodogs perished but the Demogorgon survived. Hopper found a sword in the courtyard and after a brief fight he beheaded the Russian Demogorgon. Dmitri and Yuri arrived with Yuri's helicopter Katinka, rescuing Joyce, Hopper and Murray.

## Layout

### Mountain lab

One of the locations included within the compound was a laboratory built in the side of a mountain. The lab's center was a room containing a machine called a Key, designed to open gates to the Upside Down. The room was considerably smaller than the Starcourt base's equivalent area. The Key could be viewed and activated from an adjacent observation room.

### Labor camp

The labor camp consisted of a courtyard surrounded by several tall walls, containing cells for its prisoners. Surrounding the walls were also radio towers, and a railway on which the prisoners were forced to work. A small shed stood on the outside of a fence surrounding the prison, for guards to shoot any prisoners who escaped.

### Demogorgon pit

The Demogorgon pit was a large open arena-like area. It was enclosed by walls, from on top of which Warden Melnikov and the prison guards spectated. There were two doors leading out of the area; one to within the prison, and the other to where the Russian Demogorgon was housed. There was also an area from which the prisoners were allowed to take as many weapons as they want as defense against the Russian Demogorgon.

### Creature storage rooms

A nearly empty room adjacent to the prison’s control room housed a vivisected Demodog. Another room contained numerous cryogenic tanks storing frozen Demodogs; the room also included a large glass tank fitted out with heaters, used to trap a piece of the Mind Flayer.

## Gallery

An illustration from Stranger Things: Kamchatka
## Trivia

* The facility in "Suzie, Do You Copy?" is described to be in the side of a mountain in the episode's script.
* The Kamchatka scenes in the fourth season were filmed in Vilnius, Lithuania, as confirmed by executive producer Shawn Levy.
* Fans speculated that "the American" prisoner mentioned in "The Battle of Starcourt" may have been Jim Hopper. This theory was later proved correct by marketing for the fourth season. Others speculated the prisoner may have been Dr. Brenner, who at that point hadn't been seen alive since season one.

## References

1. ↑ Suzie, Do You Copy?
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Suzie, Do You Copy?" script

### Canon hierarchy

1. ↑ Information from *Stranger Things: Kamchatka*, a Tier 3 source, conflicts with what's presented in the main series.

	* In the fourth season, the Soviets are shown to have captured at least a half dozen Demogorgons, with the adult Demogorgon presumably captured the same way (via the gate at Starcourt Base). This is at odds with *Stranger Things: Kamchatka*, which depicts Dr. Karine discovering an infant Demogorgon amongst the Kamchatkan Key's wreckage.