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 Ocean. To guard these coasts it operates hundreds of lighthouses, many of them historic. Russia's Northern Sea Route (Sevmorput) is a well developed sea lane extending through the Arctic Ocean to connect the Atlantic and Pacific. The route extends from Murmansk at the northwestern corner of Russia past the island of Novaya Zemlya and parallel to the Siberian coast all the way to the Bering Strait. The Chokotka Autonomous Okrug (autonomous district) is the unit of the Russian Federation that occupies the easternmost extension of Siberia, reaching toward Alaska. It is a peninsula with coastlines facing north on the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea (basins of the Arctic Ocean) and south on the Bering Sea (a basin of the Pacific Ocean). This page has lighthouses of the Arctic coast and there is a separate page covering the Pacific coast. 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 Russian word for a lighthouse is mayak (маяк); ostrov is an island, poluostrov is a peninsula, mys is a cape, bukhta or guba 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 Navy's Office of Navigation and Oceanography (Управление навигации и океанографии). ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Russian light list (RU) numbers are from Russian Navy Publication 2111 as reported by the Admiralty. Admiralty numbers are from volume L of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals and U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 115.
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![]() Ostrov Kolyuchin Light, Iultinsky District, August 2011 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Harry Shave; used by permission |
Bilibinsky District Lighthouses
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![]() Mys Letyatkina Light, Bilibinsky District, April 2011 Snegohod.org photo (no longer online); reproduction permitted with attribution |
Chaunsky District Lighthouses
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![]() Kosa Routan Light, Chaunsky District, August 2010 photo copyright Oleg Fomin; used by permission |
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![]() South Entrance Range Rear Light, Pevek, August 2013 Google Maps photo by Vanillin Ivander |
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![]() Mys Shelagskiy Light, Chaunsky District, September 2008 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Alexander Mazur; used by permission |
Iultinsky District Lighthouses
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![]() Mys Florensa Light, Wrangel Island, August 2011 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Harry Shave; used by permission |
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![]() Mys Vankarem Light, Iultinskiy District photo copyright RussiaDiscovery.ru; permission requested |
Chukotsky District Lighthouses
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![]() Belyaka Light, Kolyuchin Bay, August 2016 photo copyright Dave Wiltzius; used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses: Notable faux lighthouses: |
![]() Ostrov Idlidlya Light, Chukchi Sea, seen from the mainland Chukotsky District government photo |
Adjoining pages: East: Alaska | South: Eastern Chukotka | West: Sakha Republic
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Posted May 19, 2006. Checked and revised June 15, 2024. Lighthouses: 49. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.