Russia (Россия, Rossiya in Russian) is by far the world's largest country, spanning a little over 150° in longitude. It is organized as the Russian Federation (Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) with members known as federal subjects (sub'yekty federatsii). Russia is primarily a continental nation but it has important coastlines on the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas and very long coastlines on the Arctic Ocean and North Pacific Oceans. To guard these coasts it operates hundreds of lighthouses, many of them historic. The Chokotka Autonomous Okrug (autonomous district) is the easternmost of the members of the Russian Federation. Chukotka includes the Chukchi Peninsula, the easternmost extension of Siberia, reaching toward Alaska. Chukotka has coastlines facing north on the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea (basins of the Arctic Ocean), east on the Bering Strait, and south on the Bering Sea (an extension of the North Pacific Ocean). This page has lighthouses of the Bering Strait and Bering Sea; there is a separate page for lighthouses of the Arctic coast. Administratively Chukotka is divided into six districts (rayony). Although Russian explorers reached this remote area in the 17th century and mapped it in the 18th century full control by the Russian Empire did not occur before late in the 19th century. The Bering Strait coast of Russia is a closed military zone, open to foreign visitors only in organized groups. Adventure cruise ships and ecotours sometimes visit specific locations on the coast but unauthorized vessels are subject to arrest. As a result no photos are available for many of the lighthouses. If you have or can locate additional photos please let me know. The Russian word for a lighthouse is mayak (маяк); ostrov is an island, poluostrov is a peninsula, kosa is a sandy spit, rif is a reef, mys is a cape, bukhta is a bay, zaliv is a larger bay or gulf, proliv is a strait, reka is a river, and gavan' is a harbor. Russian lighthouses are owned by the Russian Navy and maintained by the Office of Navigation and Oceanography (Управление навигации и океанографии). ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume M of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals, and U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
|
Chukotsky District (Bering Strait) Lighthouses
|
Providensky District Lighthouses
|
![]() Yanrakynnot Light, Yanrakynnot, May 2016 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Maksim Antipin; used by permission |
|
|
|
Iultinsky District South Coast Lighthouses
|
![]() Mys Kruzenshterna Light, Kresta Bay, August 2018 Lightphotos.net photo copyright Evgeny Basov; |
Anadyrsky District Lighthouses
|
|
|
|
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Northern Chukotka | East: U.S.A.: Alaska | South: Kamchatka
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted May 19, 2006. Checked and revised August 28, 2025. Lighthouses: 53. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.