23 June 201: Our Great Russian Motherland: Matua Island in the Kuriles

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Matua Island is a smallish island in the Kurile Islands north of Japan. It’s about 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) in length and about 6.5 kilometres (4 miles) in width, with an area of about 50 square kilometres (@20 square miles). It has an active volcano that disrupted air traffic in the Northern Pacific during its last eruption in 2009. Prior to the collapse of the USSR, the island had an airfield and a military base, but they went vacant in the 90s. Today, the Russian forces are returning to the island and reactivating the premises. The bear is back… and he ain’t inclined to hand what’s his to others…

BMD

27 November 2012. Our Great Russian Motherland. The Komandorsky Islands (photography by Vadim Gippenreiter)

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The Komandorsky Islands are located 175 kilometres (109 miles) east of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, in the Bering Sea. They’re the isolated westernmost extension of the Aleutians (they’re separated from the rest of the chain by 333 kilometres (207 miles), and the native people here are Aleuts, the same as their relatives in Alaska. I’m told that Aleuts from Unalaska AK flew into Bering Island when HH blessed a church here… that wouldn’t be surprising… after all, Vladivostok is far closer to Unalaska than Syosset NY is…

The above photo of sea lions is by the famous Soviet-era photographer Vadim Gippenreiter.

BMD