Of the sixty thousand kilometers of border territories, forty thousand are the maritime borders of Russia. The water line is located at a distance of almost 23 kilometers from the land, and in the seas that wash the coast, up to three hundred and seventy kilometers, the Russian economic zone is located. Ships of any state may be present in this territory, but they do not have the right to natural resources. The sea borders of Russia are located in the waters of three oceans.
Neighbors
The closest neighbors of Russia are Japan and the United States, as these countries are separated from it by narrow straits. The United States of America and the Russian Federation are separated by the Bering Strait, located between the Russian island of Ratmanov and the American - Kruzenshtern. The border with Japan lies between Sakhalin, the South Kuril Islands on one side and Hokkaido Island from Japan. The main oceanic neighbor is Canada. The maritime borders of Russia and Canada are divided by the Arctic Ocean.
This is the longest border line passing along the Chukchi, East Siberian, Kara, Barents seas, as well as along the Laptev Sea. According to international agreements, all inland waters, such as the White Sea, the Czech and Pechora Bay, territorial bodies of water along the coast of all seas (sixteen nautical miles long), as well as two hundred miles of the economic zone further than territorial, which are over 4 million square kilometers. The maritime borders of Russia amount to ten time zones from west to east in time.
Northern Sea Route
Russia has the right to exploration of territorial resources and their development, to produce seafood and fish in the economic zone. The huge shelf spaces of the Arctic Ocean concentrated in themselves the resources of gas and oil in gigantic quantities: approximately twenty percent of all world reserves. The most important northern ports of the Russian Federation are Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, which are connected to the mainland by railways.
It is from there that the Northern Sea Route originates, which passes through all the seas, and then through the Bering Strait to Vladivostok itself passes in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the northern seas are covered with the thickness of ice almost all year. But caravans of ships follow powerful icebreakers, including nuclear ones. And still the navigation there is very short, for three months it is simply impossible to transfer all the goods. Therefore, the Arctic highway is being prepared for launch along the border of the Russian Federation, on which nuclear submarines will be engaged in transportation.
Pacific Ocean
Here the borders pass through the Japan, Okhotsk and Bering Seas. Where are the sea borders of Russia with Japan laid? In the Kuril Islands, as well as in Kamchatka over the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. The main ports are built in the south, these are Nakhodka, Vanino, Vladivostok and Sovetskaya Gavan, and the north is served by two very important ports: in the Sea of Okhotsk - Magadan, in Kamchatka - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. These items are of great importance to the fishing industry.
In recent years, the country's leadership has taken a number of important strategic decisions: in order to strengthen Russia's maritime borders, it is necessary to build and equip many more large ports, such as can be taken by heavy ships. Thus, the full potential of the marine possessions of the Russian Federation will be better used.
Atlantic Ocean
Basin of the Atlantic - the Azov, Black and Baltic Seas.Sites of the Russian coast there are rather small, but nevertheless, recently they have become more and more of economic importance. On the Baltic Sea, Russia's maritime borders are guarded by such ports as Baltiysk, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad.
The borders of the Russian Federation require more ports, so Ust-Luga, Primorsky and the port of Batareinaya Bay are being built. Especially a lot of changes due to some geopolitical changes occur in the Azov and Black Seas, where the sea borders of Russia also pass. With which countries it borders in this region, it is known - these are Turkey and Ukraine.
Three seas
The Sea of Azov is shallow, its ports - Yeysk and Taganrog - cannot accept large vessels. It is planned to create a sea channel passing through Taganrog, then the port's capabilities will increase significantly. The largest port on the Black Sea is Novorossiysk; there are also Tuapse and Sochi (passenger port).
The Caspian Sea does not connect with the ocean, therefore, it may well be considered a lake. The maritime borders of Russia and along it must also pass, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union the question remained open. The main ports are Astrakhan, where the sea canal, as well as Makhachkala, has already been built due to the shallow water.
Change borders
When Crimea joined Russia, the sea borders of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea also changed. Therefore, even the South Stream, apparently, will go a different way. Russia gained new opportunities with the advent of the port of Kerch. The Taman Peninsula will very soon be connected to the Crimea with a new bridge. But there are also problems.
The maritime border between Russia and Ukraine cannot be clearly marked until the latter recognizes Crimea as Russian. There are no prerequisites for this yet. On the contrary, the President of Ukraine constantly declares the return of the peninsula under the auspices of his country.
Sea of Azov
The Sea of Azov is significantly shallow, as a result of which access to the water area has become different. In 2012, the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement on borders on the expanses of the Sea of Azov, but did not manage to make a final decision on this issue, since the neighboring state was going through a difficult period of change of power and priorities. Conditionally, the borders of the Russian Federation passed along the Kerch Strait, but specifics in this matter were not observed. However, when Crimea became part of Russia, this question naturally ceased to sound.
As a result of the events, the Kerch Strait and the adjacent stretch of the sea, including the Black Sea, became available to Russia. Accordingly, the Ukrainian territory in the Sea of Azov is 16 nautical miles from the coast, and the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet may be on the rest of the area.
Uncertainty
The maritime border between Russia and Ukraine in the Crimean west coast is also quite controversial. The distance from the coast of the peninsula to the Ukrainian coast is only from fifteen to forty kilometers, that is, the standards of international law cannot be applied here: there simply isn’t so much space to create a sixteen-mile zone of territorial waters. It should be noted that among the shelves of this area there are several extremely rich in oil.
When such cases occur between neighboring states, they negotiate the determination of borders along the midline. But, unfortunately, relations between Russia and Ukraine are not developing in the best way, so any constructive negotiations are not yet possible.
Norway
In 2010, Russia and Norway signed a delineation agreement continental shelf and definitions of economic zones. In the Norwegian Parliament, the agreement was ratified in February 2011, in the State Duma and the Federation Council in March. The document establishes distinct boundaries of the jurisdiction and sovereign rights of Norway and Russia, provides for continued cooperation in the fishing industry, and defines a regime for the joint exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits outside the borders.
With the signing of this agreement, a thirty-year moratorium ended, which allowed the two countries to freely develop oil and gas deposits in the Arctic continental shelf, the territory of which is more than one hundred and seventy-five thousand square kilometers.According to some reports, in this part of the Arctic Ocean there may be about 13% of the world's undiscovered oil reserves and 30% of gas reserves. Why is this agreement important for the borders of the Russian Federation? The fact that it allows you to extract minerals in disputed border areas, and there are many. By the way, they are especially rich in hydrocarbons.
Far East
The Far Eastern territories of Russia go to two oceans - the Arctic and the Pacific, have sea borders with Japan and the United States. In this region, there are problems with determining the border along the Bering Strait. In addition, there are difficulties with which state some islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge belong to. This long-standing dispute arose as far back as the 19th century and is still disputed by the Japanese side.
The protection of the Far Eastern borders has always been problematic, as neighbors constantly make complaints about the islands belonging to Russia and the adjacent water territories. In this regard, the Foundation for Advanced Research has reported that a special underwater robot will be created in Primorye that will detect any moving objects and determine their coordinates. Even silent vessels cannot deceive the vigilance of this apparatus.
Unmanned underwater robots will be able to independently guard the sea borders of Russia, control a given water area and transmit information to shore. Such a robotic submarine has already been developed at the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. They are working on its creation at the Institute of Marine Technology Problems in a special laboratory engaged in underwater robotics. And this is not the first experience in creating such devices: automated media for various purposes have already been created within these walls. The length of the sea borders of Russia is such that it requires well-organized protection and a huge amount of human resources, including.
