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
* Hall Island (Arctic), 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 (Kara Sea),, 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 Medvezhyi Islands, about Ayon Island, about Wrangel Island, about Big Diomede, about