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. Through its outlet to the Mediterranean the Black Sea has long provided a southern maritime connection for Russia. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Russia's seizure of Crimea in 2014 Russia controls the Black Sea coast in two sections separated by the Kerch Strait. Between the two sections the Kerch Strait connects the Black Sea to the much smaller basin of the Sea of Azov. At the northeastern corner of the Sea of Azov Taganrog Bay extends eastward to the delta of the Don River. This page includes lighthouses on the east side of the Kerch Strait and on the Sea of Azov and Taganrog Bay. Lighthouses on the west side of the Strait, in Russian occupied Crimea, are described on the Eastern Crimea page as they appeared prior to the start Russia's war in Ukraine. The principal port in this region is Taganrog city on Taganrog Bay but another port is under development at Taman at the eastern entrance to the Kerch Strait. In addition, from Taganrog Bay there is an important connection through the lower Don River and the Volga-Don Canal to Russia's vast inland waterway system. 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. RU numbers, where available, are from the Russian Black Sea light list (publication 2217). Admiralty numbers are from volume N of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals and U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113.
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Krasnodar Krai (Kuban) Lighthouses
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![]() Tamanskiy Vykhodnoy Range Rear Light, Taman photo copyright Capt. Peter Mosselberger used by permission |
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Rostov Oblast Lighthouses
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Volga and Don | Southeast: Eastern Black Sea | Southwest: Eastern Crimea | Northwest: Ukraine Sea of Azov
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Posted February 26, 2007. Checked and revised September 19, 2024. Lighthouses: 38. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.