The Caribbean or Cuban Missile Crisis
IV Soviet Occupation

The Valka bunkers are located in the centre of the city of Valka, on the left side of Ausekļa street, next to the Ādams Tērauds School. Visitors can only view the bunkers from the outside. The Soviet Army bunkers in Valka were among the most secret places in Soviet Latvia only accessible to people with special permits. From 1953 to 1989, they were home to the Soviet Army’s strategic missile communications reserve. Large 16 wheelers were used to deliver massive reinforced concrete blocks for building the bunkers. Once completed, all three bunkers were covered with gravel for additional reinforcement and insulation. The bunkers housed a strategic missile communications reserve subordinated to the Leningrad Communications Centre. Silos with army missiles were controlled from these bunkers. There were 20 such silos in the Valka and Valga area. In October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, these missiles were combat-ready and aimed at Florida. Legend has it that they were a couple of hours shy from actually being launched. Right next to the Ādams Tērauds School and the underground bunkers is the Swedish (Sheremetyevo) Fortification. The artificial wall of earth was built at the beginning of the Great Northern War, around 1702, to protect Valka against the Swedes. The steepest wall of the fortification faces the village of Ērģeme, while the other side faces Ausekļa street.

In 1960, the Šateikiai Ground Missile Base was built in the forests adjacent to Šateikiai of Plungė district. It was one of four bases of its kind in Lithuania. Four launching pads for R-12 (SS-4 Sandal) medium-range ballistic missiles had been built at the base. Once the signal was received, the missiles could be fired at the European countries of the NATO bloc.
In 1962, during the Caribbean crisis, nuclear missiles were moved from the Šateikiai missile base to central Cuba. The highest level of alert at this base was declared in 1968 during the Prague Spring – the democratic change in Czechoslovakia. At the time, one of the missiles was aimed at the Federal Republic of Germany because the NATO bloc was likely to support the Czechoslovak rebels with its own weapons.
The Šateikiai base was closed in around 1978 because it was considered obsolete and its maintenance – irrational. The closure was also prompted by the fact that by the 1980s it was clear that US intelligence services had identified the locations of stationary missile launch bases.                                                                The abandonment of the missile launch site caused structural damage to buildings. The remains of six reinforced concrete warehouses (hangars) are still present on the grounds of the base, as well as bush-covered surface launching pads for rockets.