Atlasov Island, located 70 km south of Kamchatka, is the northernmost island of the Kuril Islands of Sakhalin Oblast. It is the surface portion of the Alaid volcano, whose eruptions led to the formation of the highest island in Russia and the 50th highest in the world.

The island is nearly round, with a diameter in the range of 13-17 km. The volcano is located exactly in the center, and the cone rises to over 2,300 meters. Rain clouds form lower down, so the summit is often hidden by clouds. Atlasov Island on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

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Tags: Sakhalin oblast · Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is a city with a population of about 200 thousand people located in the southeastern part of Sakhalin Island in the Far East of Russia, the capital of Sakhalin Oblast.

It is the sixth largest city in the Russian Far East, in which Russian and Japanese cultures are closely intertwined. Here you can often see old Japanese buildings and monuments. The distance from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Moscow, if flying by plane, is 6,640 km and 9,280 km (by car). Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Tags: Sakhalin oblast · Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city