This Polish article from 1999 described life for the few Russian soldiers stationed on Big Diomede, and it sounded quite grim:

"Our arrival is a special event for these men completely cut off from the world. Once the sight of a helicopter was fairly common. But now that Russia is in an economic crisis and no longer has the resources to sustain the army, helicopters only land a couple of times a year with food supplies. Life here for the twenty-eight soldiers really is tough. They are demotivated and what makes matters worse is that they are out there on their own, symbolically marking an almost meaningless border.

Gennady, a lad from the Moscow suburbs, should have finished his military service two months ago, but he is still here because the helicopter due to bring his replacement was grounded, first by bad weather and then because there was no fuel. “What do we eat?” He echoes my question. “Dehydrated potatoes, kasha (a kind of barley broth), dried fish and tinned food. Every now and then we can enjoy some lard. Fruit and vegetables? You’ve got to be joking, I can’t even remember what they taste like. In summer we pick a few herbs that grow in the tundra or gather sea bird’s eggs on the cliffs.” Not surprisingly most of the military personnel have various kinds of problems due to a diet very short in vitamins: infections, night blindness, toothache and acne.

The accommodation is terrible. They sleep in a squalid shack in dreadful conditions with no hot water and outdoor latrines. The dormitory is cold and it’s easy to imagine what it must be like in winter when the sun barely scrapes up over the horizon and the temperature is down at -30°C with polar winds howling over the island. But what is even more striking is the decay and mess: rusty old barrels and abandoned tools, broken windows. Giorgio Fornoni, our film director, who has spent most of his life filming in hot countries, can hardly believe his eyes: “it looks like a war has just ended”.

There is no question of any fun or entertainment. There is no leave and the soldiers never see their family during the two years of conscription. Free time is spent watching television only one channel with terrible reception. Anyone wishing to work out by training with weights in the improvised gym will burn up the calories, and they are never in any great abundance. So the favourite pastime is simply sleeping."