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. Kamchatka Krai, one of the members of the Federation, occupies a volcanic peninsula separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the open Pacific Ocean. Russian occupation of this area began with the explorations of Vitus Bering and Alexsei Chirikov between 1728 and 1741 and the town of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was founded in 1740. However, there was limited development or commerce before the Soviet era. Petropavlovsk was expanded greatly to serve as a naval base for the Soviet Pacific Fleet; it has shrunk in recent years as many military installations were closed but it still has nearly 200,000 inhabitants. Kamchatka Krai was formed in 2007 by merging the Koryak Autonomous Okrug (region) in the north with the Kamchatka Oblast (province) in the south. Both of these areas are divided into administrative districts (raions). 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. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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![]() Mys Ozernyy Light, Koryakia, summer 2003 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Victor Morozov used by permission |
Koryak Okrug (Koryakia) East Coast Lighthouses
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![]() Ostrov Verkhoturova Light, Koryakia, September 2011 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Roman Bruehwiler; used by permission |
Kamchatka East Coast Lighthouses
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![]() Mys Kronotskiy Light, Yelizovsky District Kronotskiy State Reserve photo by E. Filippova (no longer online) |
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![]() Mys Russkiy (Mys Vkhodnoy) Light, Russkaya Bay, November 2020 Google Maps photo by Freeride_Travel Kamchatka |
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Kamchatka West Coast (Sea of Okhotsk) Lighthouses
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Koryak Okrug (Koryakia) West Coast Lighthouses
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Eastern Chukotka | South: Kuril Islands | West: Magadan
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Posted May 19, 2006. Checked and revised June 30, 2024. Lighthouses: 51. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.