Russian Arctic islands
The Russian Arctic islands are a number of islands groups and sole islands scattered around the Arctic Ocean.Geography
The islands are all situated within the Arctic Circle and are scattered through the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, namely, the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea. The area extends some from Karelia in the west to the Chukchi Peninsula in the east.
The largest of the Arctic islands is Severny Island, with an area of about. It is Russia's second largest island next to Sakhalin Island, and the fourth largest island in Europe.History
The Russian Empire officially claimed the Arctic islands to its north in a Note of the Russian Government of 20 September 1916 - this covered the islands of Henrietta, Jeannette, Bennett, Herald, Edinenie, New Siberia, Wrangel, Novaya Zemlya, Kolguev, Vaigach and others. On 15 April 1926, the Soviet Union reaffirmed this claim.Islands
The area includes from west to east:
- Victoria Island, about
- Franz Josef Land, about
- * Zemlya Georga, about
- * Wilczek Land, about
- * Graham Bell Island,, about
- * Alexandra Land, about
- * Gallya, about
- * Salisbury Island, about
- Kolguyev Island, about
- Novaya Zemlya, about
- * Severny Island, about
- * Yuzhny Island, about
- * Vaygach Island, Вайгaч, Vaygach), about
- Bely Island,, about
- Shokalsky Island,, about
- Vilkitsky Island ,, about
- Oleniy Island,, about
- Zapovednik Islands, about
- * Dikson - Sibiryakov Islands,, about
- * The Kara Sea Islands,, about
- ** Sverdrup Island,
- ** Arkticheskiy Institut Islands,, about 259 km2
- ** Izvestiy TSIK Islands,, about 102 km2
- ** Uedineniya Island,
- ** Sergei Kirov Islands,
- ** Voronina Island,
- ** Taymyr Island,
- ** Kolchak Island,
- ** Minina Skerries, and number of smaller islands.
- * Nordenskiöld Archipelago, about
- ** Litke Islands
- ** Tsivolko Islands
- ** Pakhatusov Islands
- ** Vostochnyye Islands
- ** Vilkitsky Islands
- ** Lafetenyye and Prolifnyye Islands
- Vize Island, about
- Ushakov Island, about
- Severnaya Zemlya, about
- *October Revolution Island, about
- * Bolshevik Island, about
- * Komsomolets Island, about
- * Pioneer Island, about
- Bolshoy Begichev Island,, about
- New Siberian Islands, about
- * Anzhu Islands, about
- * De Long Islands, about
- * Lyakhovsky Islands, about
- Medvyezhi Islands, about
- Ayon Island, about
- Wrangel Island, about
- Big Diomede, about
