Russian Arctic islands Russian Arctic islands The Russian Arctic islands are a number of islands groups and sole islands scattered around the Arctic Ocean. The islands are all situated within the Arctic Circle and are scattered through the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, namely, the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea. The area extends some from Karelia in the west to the Chukchi Peninsula in the east. The largest of the Arctic islands is Severny Island, with an area of about . It is Russia's second largest island next to Sakhalin Island, and the
Polar seas is also an important habitat. There is an expected rise in the exploration and development of the Polar Seas due to an increasing demand for fuel and commodities. The emergence of China and India's economy is considered one of the main drivers of this phenomenon due to an unprecedented appetite for raw materials and fuel. Presently, there are still no exact figures that define the oil and gas reserves in the Polar Seas. Initial explorations, however, have resulted in the identification of its potential. For example, Canada's explorations discovered gas and oil in several Arctic locations such as Beaufort, High