Territorial claims from time immemorial have had a significant impact on public policy, although the further we go from the time of the Middle Ages, the less reasonable disputes about small islands, bays and plots of land seem.

However, from time to time the issue of territorial claims attracts attention.

In the modern world, the importance of territorial disputes is still falling: more and more states today understand that large territory v is not at all a reason for pride, but if we talk about the past (sometimes very close), then -

From the depths

Historians generally divide territorial disputes into several categories. These are disputes over areas of military strategic importance, economic importance and political significance.

This division is rather conditional, since each disputed case has its own characteristics and nuances.

Territories that can become "transit points" for attack in case of war are of military importance. Particularly dear to states are areas that can be used for reconnaissance activities, for example, today, for the deployment of radar stations.

Economically important regions include straits, canals, as well as areas rich in natural resources or with great potential for the development of the tourism business. Most often, disputes between states arise in the division of water areas rich in fish, as well as in determining the boundaries of oil shelves.

Areas that are historically disputed are politically significant, and usually do not play a significant role geographically or economically. But territorial claims can become a way to score political points in the election campaign.

Who claims what

Today, almost everyone knows that some of the islands of the Kuril chain are the subject of Japan's territorial claims. But not only Japan makes territorial claims against Russia.

The question of the current borders has been periodically raised or raised by other neighbors, not to mention the former republics of the USSR. The roots of these problems go deep into the centuries, when a lot of different lands were annexed to the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire included present-day Finland, and a significant part of Poland, the Caucasus, and the famous Alaska.

After the reshaping of the world map as a result of wars in the 20th century, many controversial issues, if not left unresolved, left a significant mark on the "collective unconscious" of neighboring nations. After the collapse of the USSR, there were a few more problems. In terms of the length of its borders, Russia ranks first in the world - 60 thousand kilometers.

Moving along the border, let's comment on the problems in relations with neighboring states related to the territorial issue.

Russia v USA

Russia and the US have the longest maritime border in the world. The only problem for a long time was the question of delimiting the waters of the Bering Strait. In 1990, an agreement was signed between the two USSR and the USA on the delimitation of maritime spaces (territorial waters, the economic zone and the shelf were delimited). It's about five thousand kilometers.

Russia v Japan

Russia and Japan do not have a border treaty. There is no peace treaty either. The Japanese link his conclusion to the solution of the problem of the South Kuriles.

Russia v North Korea

There is an agreement on the demarcation (marking on the ground) of borders and the delimitation of maritime space, the borders are clearly marked not only on the map, but also on the ground. And they are well guarded. In China, Japan and South Korea, North Koreans illegally enter much more often, and most of the North Korean illegal immigrants that the media wrote about in the 1990s were workers who fled from the DPRK-owned timber industry enterprises in Russia.

Russia v China

Border disputes have marred relations between the USSR and China since the 1960s. The culmination of border disputes is considered to be the events of 1969, when China laid down more than one thousand of its soldiers in the battle for Damansky Island (in those days, this piece of land measuring one and a half by half a kilometer, covered with silt and overgrown with reeds, was not yet a peninsula).

In 1991, an agreement was signed on the demarcation of the eastern part of the border with a length of about 4200 km. Demarcation completed. However, the parties failed to agree on two of its sections: on the Argun River (Bolshoi Island) and on the Amur (Bolshoy Ussuriysky and Tarabarov Islands). Here it was not even possible to delimit the borders (mark them on the map), not to mention the demarcation.

On the western border of China with Russia, about 50 km long, there is an agreement on delimitation. Demarcation has begun.

Russia v Mongolia

There is a border treaty and demarcation agreements.

Russia v Kazakhstan

The issue of the border has not yet been raised by either side. Now there is a very conditional "inter-republican border."

Caspian Sea

So far, Russian-Iranian agreements on the division of the Caspian Sea are in force. However, new independent littoral states v Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan v demand the division of the Caspian (primarily its bottom). Azerbaijan, without waiting for the determination of the status of the Caspian Sea, has already begun to develop its subsoil.

Russia v Azerbaijan

A bilateral commission on the delimitation of the border has been set up. Its activity is complicated by the fact that Lezgins live in some areas on both sides of the border - the people are divided.

Russia v Georgia

Since 1993, the border delimitation commission has been operating. Its activities are hampered by the presence of unrecognized entities - Abkhazia, South Ossetia (Georgia) and Chechnya (Russia). The problems of the Black Sea border have not been resolved: territorial waters, the economic zone and the shelf will have to be demarcated.

Russia v Türkiye

All border issues were resolved back in the Soviet period.

Russia v Ukraine

Russia believes that the Sea of ​​Azov with the Kerch Strait should be considered an inland sea of ​​Russia and Ukraine. Kyiv insists on its division. The problems of the land border are being discussed along with the whole range of bilateral Russian-Ukrainian problems and are being solved as difficult as all the others.

R Russia v Belarus

The question of the border between the two states has not yet been raised.

Russia v Latvia

After gaining independence in 1991, Latvia raised the issue of recognizing the agreement with the RSFSR of 1920 and the illegality of the transfer of the Abrensky (Pytalovsky) region of Latvia to Russia in the late 1940s. Actually, Latvia did not demand the return of the territories, and in the mid-1990s, it completely removed all claims against Russia, fulfilling the conditions necessary for joining the EU.

Russia v Estonia

Despite the allegations spread by a number of media, Estonia does not officially make claims against Russia.

Kaliningrad region

This Russian semi-enclave has common boundaries with Poland and Lithuania. There are no border problems here, although, according to a number of Russian media, the idea of ​​annexing the region is growing in popularity in Germany and Lithuania.

Russia v Lithuania

An agreement on the demarcation of the border was signed. However, this treaty has not yet been ratified by Russia.

Russia v Finland

There is an agreement on the state border, documents on its demarcation have been signed.

Russia v Norway

The land border and territorial waters are documented and demarcated. The main problem of bilateral relations is the delimitation of the maritime economic zone and the shelf. Negotiations on this have been unsuccessful since 1970. The Norwegians believe that the Russian “border of polar possessions” should be revised, and insist on the principle of equal separation of the border from the island possessions of both countries.

The border of the polar possessions of Russia was established by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in 1926. This sector, with its peak resting on the North Pole, included all the islands of the eastern part of the Arctic Ocean. Many countries are increasingly making statements about its illegality.

How real are the claims?

It is unlikely that any of Russia's current neighbors would be able to get involved in a war in order to realize their territorial claims. However, in today's world there are many other ways to achieve your goals. Russian experts are very fond of building scenarios like:

"Border conflicts are possible, fuss over the demarcation of the border, as was the case with the Upper Lars border checkpoint on the border with Georgia"
"It is impossible not to take into account the possible provocation of ethnic and interethnic conflicts on the territory of Russia from the outside. As is happening now in the Caucasus in connection with Chechnya, on the border with Dagestan, with Abkhazia and Georgia."
"Possibly a gradual change, not in favor of Russian citizens, of the ethnic balance in the adjacent Far Eastern territories in connection with the penetration and settlement of Chinese citizens there."
"A kind of 'economic blackmail' as a reaction to an internal cataclysm in Russia. If something happens to us, some of our neighbors may present their pending territorial claims to Russia as bills for payment."

This is interesting

In addition, according to journalists' estimates, in Russia itself, over the past 10 years, about 30 territorial claims of the subjects of the Federation against each other have manifested themselves.

Moscow is arguing with the Moscow region about the ownership of Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports, the Tver region is arguing with the Yaroslavl region about the islands on the Mologa River. Shadrinsky and Dolmatovsky districts of the Kurgan region gravitate towards the Sverdlovsk region. Because of the disputed territories, Kalmykia and the Astrakhan region are at enmity. And this is not a complete list.

Particularly dangerous are regions such as Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, where there have long been calls for separation.

Disputed territories, which may have military significance, attract the attention of states most of all. Shelves and sea areas, rich in fish, are a tasty morsel. Not in last place in importance are those places where you can successfully develop. Such economically important objects are most often the subject of state disputes. The Russian border has a length of 60,000 kilometers, and with the United States - the longest maritime border.

Claims against Russia by Asian states

The Kuril Islands are today a stumbling block for the signing of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan. Since the end of the Second World War between these countries, it has not been signed, although Japan finally capitulated on September 6, 1945. Today, these two states are in a state of truce, the Japanese demand to give them part of the Kuril ridge.

The border with China is demarcated, but it has claims against Russia. And today Tarabarov and the Big Ussuri Islands on the Amur River are controversial. Here the borders are not even delimited. But China follows a different path, it systematically populates the territory of the Russian Federation with its citizens. The water space and shelves of the Caspian Sea are divided by Russian-Iranian agreements. The states that have reappeared in the political world, and these are Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, demand to divide the bottom of the Caspian Sea in a new way. Azerbaijan is not waiting, it is already developing the subsoil.

European claims

Today, Ukraine has a territorial claim to Russia, it does not want to accept the loss of Crimea. Previously there were disputes about Kerch Strait and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, which Russia proposed to consider internal between the two countries, while Ukraine demanded their separation. There are problems, and they are very difficult to solve. Latvia tried to make claims about the Pytalovsky region, but for the sake of the possibility of joining the EU, it refused.

Despite the fact that rumors are circulating in the media about Estonian claims to the Ivangorod region, official Tallinn did not make any claims. Lithuania plans to annex the Kaliningrad region, but it is unlikely that it will want a war with Russia.

Norway is not satisfied with the Russian border between the islands of the Arctic Ocean. Norway demands to establish a border exactly in the middle between the islands belonging to the two countries, it wants to revise the boundaries of Russian polar possessions. In 1926, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee established the border of the polar possessions of the USSR, including in the state all the islands in the north of the Eastern Hemisphere, including the North Pole. Today, many countries consider this document illegal.

"Ogonyok" presents the top ten completed and yet unresolved territorial disputes between the subjects Russian Federation

Prepared by Olga Shkurenko

1. Sunzha and Malgobek districts

The conflict arose in 1992 after the division of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. Ingush President Ruslan Aushev agreed with the leaders of Ichkeria that they would not "divide the districts." Since then, the issue of the border between the regions has not been resolved. The conflict escalated in 2012, when the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, accused his neighbors of seizing "original Chechen lands" and promised to document his claims. Now two administrations have been established in the Sunzhensky district - Chechen and Ingush, and Malgobeksky is under the control of Magas.

2. Suburban area

In the fall of 1992, the dispute over the ownership of the Prigorodny District turned into an armed conflict between Ossetians and Ingush, which ended only after the introduction of federal troops and claimed the lives of over 500 people. The area has been transferred North Ossetia in 1944 after the deportation of the Ingush and the liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush autonomy. The conflict remains frozen, and the issue of the return of refugees who fled their homes in 1992 has not been resolved.

3. Norilsk

Since 1992, the authorities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug have been arguing about the distribution of taxes from the Norilsk MMC. The fact is that Norilsk, located on the territory of the district, was transferred to regional subordination in 1953 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. Twice - in 1995 and 2002 - the presidents of the Russian Federation personally intervened in the dispute, supporting Krasnoyarsk. After the last aggravation, the idea arose to unite the regions, its implementation brought the conflict to naught.

4. Sokolsky district

In February 1994, the Federation Council approved the transfer of the Sokolsky District of the Ivanovo Region to the jurisdiction of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. locals have been achieving this since the 1950s, because after the filling of the Gorky reservoir, they were cut off from the main territory of the Ivanovo region. In 1993, a local referendum was held, in which 80 percent of the participants were in favor of the transition. After that, the authorities of the regions agreed to change the borders.

5. Sheremetyevo, Shcherbinka and Moscow Ring Road

Since the mid-1990s, Moscow and the Moscow Region have been unable to agree on the ownership of about 30 plots. The prerequisite has traditionally been the legal uncertainty of the times of the USSR. The most heated disputes unfolded around the territory of Sheremetyevo Airport (in 2006 the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation assigned it to the Moscow Region), 390 hectares in Shcherbinka (in 2008 the Supreme Court gave it to Moscow) and lands adjacent to the outer side of the Moscow Ring Road. Only in 2011, as part of the expansion of Moscow, the parties agreed to settle mutual claims.

6. Black lands

In January 2003, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court invalidated Kalmykia's claims to "Chernye Zemli" - 390,000 hectares on the border with Astrakhan Oblast. The case was initiated by Elista, who had been trying to get these territories for a long time. The origins of the dispute lie in the events of the 1940-1950s, when the Kalmyk ASSR was liquidated for a while, and its lands were divided among its neighbors. In 2004, after lengthy negotiations, Kalmykia also renounced claims to seven islands in the Caspian, including the Small Zhemchuzhny.

7. Mouth of the Nemda River

In December 2006, the Kostroma Regional Duma turned to the President with a request to adjudicate a dispute with the Ivanovo Region about the border crossing in the region of the mouth of the Nemda River rich in fish. The conflict was founded in 1956, when by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR the mouth was assigned to the Kostroma region, and on the map drawn up on the basis of the decree - to Ivanovo. In 2007, the residents of Kostroma prepared an appeal to the Constitutional Court, but it was not reported about its filing. The last negotiations between the parties took place in 2011.

8. Village Zarechnoye

In February 2007, the Federation Council approved the transfer of the village of Zarechnoye, formerly part of the Amur Region, to the Jewish Autonomous Region. The settlement was originally located on the territory of the Jewish Autonomous Region, but in the 1940s, due to a mistake by cartographers, it fell under the control of its neighbors. In 2006, at a rural gathering, the residents of Zarechny voted for the transition to the jurisdiction of Birobidzhan, which provided them with light, heat, communications and transport. But Blagoveshchensk still manages arable land, which the villagers now have to rent.

9. Settlements Central and Gruzdevsky

In 2008, the governors of Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir regions created a working group to resolve the issue around the villages of Tsentralny and Gruzdevsky, as well as the Bolshoe peat enterprise. The situation arose due to the fact that due to the expansion settlements crossed the administrative boundary line. The issue is supposed to be resolved through an exchange: the Central will completely go to the Nizhny Novgorod region, and Gruzdevsky and "Bolshoi" - to the Vladimir region.

10. Pastures in the Neftekumsky district

In 2012, the embassy of the President of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus federal district dealt with the dispute over the ownership of pastures in the Neftekumsky district of Stavropol. In 1954, by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, these lands were transferred to the Dagestan collective farms. In the 1990s, they were transferred to the regional subordination, and in 2009, the local authorities handed over plots to Stavropol tenants on the basis of a competition. The attempts of the Dagestan farms that previously occupied them to defend their right in the courts were not crowned with success. A working group has been set up to resolve the dispute.

28 SEPTEMBER,

On September 28, 1939, the Treaty of Friendship and Border between the USSR and Germany was signed. It was signed by German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Molotov. We decided to talk about the five disputed territories of Russia with other states.

The treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was concluded on September 28, 1939. It was signed after the invasion of Poland by the armies of Germany and the USSR by German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Molotov. According to this agreement, the territory of Poland was divided between Germany and the USSR. The text of the treaty and a map with the border line between the USSR and Germany were published in the Soviet press. Under this treaty, Lithuania passed into the sphere of influence of the USSR. This provided the Soviet Union with German non-intervention in relations with Lithuania, which resulted in the establishment of the Lithuanian SSR on June 15, 1940.

DISPUTE ISLANDS

The Kuril Islands include 30 large and many small islands. They are part of the Sakhalin region of Russia and are of great military-strategic and economic importance. However southern islands archipelago - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group - are disputed by Japan, which includes them in the Hokkaido prefecture.

Moscow's principled position is that the southern Kuril Islands became part of the USSR, of which Russia became the legal successor, and are an integral part of the territory of the Russian Federation on legal grounds following the results of the Second World War, enshrined in the UN Charter, and Russian sovereignty over them, which has an appropriate international legal confirmation, no doubt.

In Japan, they say that the northern territories are the centuries-old territories of this country, which continue to be under the illegal occupation of Russia. According to the Japanese position, in the event that the northern territories belong to Japan, it is ready to flexibly approach the time and procedure for their return. In addition, since the Japanese citizens living in the northern territories were forcibly evicted by Joseph Stalin, Japan is ready to come to an agreement with the Russian government so that the Russian citizens living there will not suffer the same tragedy. In other words, after the return of the islands to Japan, she intends to respect the rights, interests and desires of the Russians now living on the islands.

TAKEN ONE AND A HALF ISLANDS

Problem disputed islands Tarabarov and Bolshoy Ussuriysky arose in 1964, when a new draft agreement on the border between Russia and China was developed. And the story was like this. In 1689, the Treaty of Nerchinsk was concluded, when Russia recognized China's rights to lands on the right bank of the Amur and in Primorye. In the middle of the 19th century, taking advantage of the weakness of China, Russia annexed 165.9 thousand square kilometers of Primorye, which were under joint control. China was left without access to the Sea of ​​Japan. During World War II, between Stalin and the commander-in-chief of the PLA Mao Zedong, who controlled the northern regions of China, an agreement was concluded on drawing the border line along the Chinese bank of the Amur and Ussuri rivers. Thus, China was actually deprived of the right to use the fairway of these rivers, but received support from the USSR.

In 2004, an agreement was signed between Russia and China on the Russian-Chinese state border on its eastern part. The document defines the border in two sections: in the area of ​​Bolshoy Island in the upper reaches of the Argun River (Chita Region) and in the area of ​​the Tarabarov and Bolshoy Ussuriysky Islands at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers near Khabarovsk. Tarabarov is completely given to China, and Ussuriysky is only partially. The border line, according to the document, runs both along the middle of the rivers and on land. The territory of both sites (about 375 sq. km) is distributed approximately in half.

WANTED TO CUT OFF A PIECE

Estonia lays claim to the Pechora district of the Pskov region and the right bank of the Narva River with Ivangorod. On May 18, 2005, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Estonia, Sergey Lavrov and Urmas Paet, signed agreements on the state border and delimitation of maritime spaces in the Narva and Gulf of Finland, fixing the passage of the state border between the two states along the former administrative border between the RSFSR and the Estonian SSR "with a slight adjustment on the conditions adequate territorial compensation”. One of the main subjects of negotiations on the Russian-Estonian border is the Saatse boot. It was planned to transfer it to Estonia, exchanging it for other territories. The agreement was not ratified by Russia, due to the amendments made to it by the Estonian side.

FISH WAR

For almost half a century, Russia has been waging an undeclared fish war with Norway. Most of the fighting takes place on the territory of the famous "twilight zone" in the Barents Sea. This is a disputed body of water the size of half Germany or Italy, two-thirds of the UK.

The essence of the dispute boils down to the fact that Russia drew the border along the coast of the island of Svalbard, Norway believed that the border should be equidistant from Svalbard on the one hand and Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya on the other. Since the states were on friendly terms, the dispute over the border rarely resulted in any actions, and occasionally there were detentions of Russian fishing boats. However, in the future, the dispute escalated, since hydrocarbon reserves were discovered in the Barents Sea, including in the disputed territories. In April 2010, the parties agreed that the new delimitation line would divide the disputed territory into two equal parts, the 40-year-old dispute was finally settled on September 15, 2010 after the signing of the agreement "On the delimitation of maritime spaces and cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean" transfer of 90 thousand sq. m. km. in favor of Norway.

CRIMEA - A TERRITORY OF DISPUTES

For many years, disputes around perhaps the most beautiful and favorite vacation spot of the Soviet people have not subsided. Crimea is not only an "all-Union health resort", but also a strategic territory.

In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, relations between Ukraine and Russia deteriorated. The people living in Russia, after the loss of so many territories, remembered the Crimea, which could be returned, because. transferring it to Ukraine in 1954 was disapproved by many. At the same time, 80 percent of Crimean residents said they consider themselves citizens of Russia, and Crimea is part of its territory. But Ukraine had one very significant lever of pressure on Russia - the Black Sea Fleet. In January 1992, the then President of Ukraine L. Kravchuk announced that he had taken the Black Sea Fleet under his guardianship. It was a collapse for Russia. But the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine is a very huge loss for Russia.

What territories can be taken away from Russia in the coming years.

Last Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would like to resolve the issue of ownership with Russia Kuril Islands and sign a peace treaty. According to him, "the solution of the issue of the northern territories is a long-standing desire of the Japanese people." How Japan intends to resolve the issue, Abe did not specify. Countries have not been able to sign a peace treaty since the end of World War II.

We decided to recall the history of the Kuril Islands, and at the same time other disputed territories, which in the future may cause a conflict between Russia and its neighbors.

Kurile Islands

The dispute between Russia and Japan over the Kuril Islands can be traced back to the 18th century. At that time, the islands were inhabited by the Ainu people and there was no permanent Russian or Japanese population on them yet. Expeditions to the Kuriles were carried out by both Russians and Japanese, but the parties did not exercise any real control over the territories until the 19th century.

The first full-fledged delimitation treaty was signed by Russia and Japan in 1855 - it recognized the right of the Japanese to the Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands, as well as to the Habomai group of islands. The remaining islands of the Kuril chain remained with Russia. It is on the basis of this treaty that Japan today puts forward claims to the territory of the southern Kuriles.

Subsequently, the islands changed hands more than once - in 1875, Russia, in exchange for South Sakhalin, gave Japan the entire Kuril chain, and in 1905, after the defeat in the Russo-Japanese war, gave South Sakhalin. In 1945, the USSR entered the war with Japan at the request of the United States on the terms of the subsequent return of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.

After the victory in the war, Soviet troops occupied the agreed territories, but Japan did not recognize the transfer of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands to the USSR. The reason was that, according to Japanese cartography, they do not belong to the Kuril Islands, being the historical Japanese province of Chisima.

At the same time, the Soviet Union agreed to transfer the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan in exchange for the recognition of the remaining territories for the USSR, but these conditions did not suit Japan and the peace treaty between the countries was never signed.

In the USSR, the very fact of contesting the territories was not recognized until 1991, so there were no political negotiations on this topic. The active political phase in the issue of the Kuril Islands resumed already between Japan and the Russian Federation.

In 2007, Russia was asked to return to the terms of the 1955 armistice with the transfer of Habomai and Shikotan, but Japan refused and preferred to continue to consider all of the southern Kuriles as its "northern territories".

In 2010 and 2012, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the disputed territories along with other high-ranking officials, which caused a disapproving reaction from Japan. A new attempt by the Japanese authorities to come closer in resolving the territorial dispute has not yet received a response from the Russian side.

Amur Islands and Altai

The eastern part of the border between Russia and China runs along the Amur River and its tributary, the Ussuri. In the channels of these rivers there are a huge number of islands, the territorial status of which was repeatedly disputed by the two sides throughout the 20th century.

So, in 1969, an armed conflict broke out between the troops of the USSR and the PRC over Damansky Island, as a result of which control over it actually passed from the Soviet side to the Chinese. In 1991, the island was finally assigned to the PRC by signing an agreement.

In 2005, Russia and China signed another ​demarcation agreement between the two states, according to which 337 square kilometers of island territories were assigned to the PRC, which were previously under the de facto control of Russia. Part of Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island, Tarabarov Island and also other, smaller islands located near Khabarovsk, in the place where the Ussuri flows into the Amur, went to China.

According to the Russian authorities, the transfer of disputed territories to China was made in order to normalize relations between the two countries and avoid a possible military conflict in the future. At the same time, already in 2012, China demanded that a section of the border in the Altai Mountains be moved deep into the Russian Federation.

The PRC hoped to get 17 hectares of land, through which, perhaps in the future, a gas pipeline to the land of the rising sun would pass. Thus, by transferring the disputed territories to China in 2005, the Russian authorities by no means got rid of Chinese claims to our land, but rather created a dangerous precedent.

At the same time, in China itself, the mood for the return of the former imperial borders is quite strong. The local press does not hesitate to publish maps on which the lands of Siberia and the Far East are designated as historical Chinese territory.

Pytalovo

In 1920, a peace treaty was signed between Soviet Russia and Latvia, according to which the parties recognized the sovereignty of the two states. At the same time, the state border was also drawn. As a result, part of the Ostrovsky district of the former Russian Empire became part of Latvia.

In 1940, Stalin brought Soviet troops into Latvia, and in 1944 the territory of the former Ostrovsky district again returned to the RSFSR, and it became the Pytalovsky district of the Pskov region.

After the collapse of the USSR, Latvia recognized its presence as part of the USSR as an occupation and, on this basis, put forward territorial claims to the Pytalovsky region. At the same time, the Russian authorities, regarding this issue, categorically refused to transfer the disputed territories to the Baltic country.

In 2007, the Latvians made concessions and the border was finally fixed the way it remained after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Latvia decided that the claims were not worth the deterioration of relations with Russia, in addition, the country needed to resolve territorial disputes in order to join NATO.

Saatsessian boot

Estonia also had territorial claims against Russia. However, they were not connected with the historical right of Estonia to certain Russian territories, but with a banal inconvenience.

The fact is that one of the Estonian highways, built back in the USSR, partly passes through the territory of the Pechora district of the Pskov region, protruding into the lands of Estonia and resembling boots in shape. To drive along this road, one has to cross the state border twice.

Russia has introduced a special regime in this area, according to which Estonian vehicles have the right to pass the Russian section of the road without border inspection, but it is forbidden to stop and walk there.

The Russian authorities intended to resolve these inconveniences in 2005 by transferring the Saatses boot to Estonia in exchange for almost 100 hectares of forest land. But the signing of the already finished agreement fell through due to the introduction by the Estonian side of the text of amendments that did not suit the Russian Federation.

As a result, in 2014, the countries signed another demarcation agreement recognizing the borders left after the collapse of the USSR as valid. Estonia, like Latvia, at a certain stage was forced to curtail the issue of transferring borders due to the rules for joining NATO.

Karelia

During its history, Karelia has become a disputed territory more than once. It belonged to the Novgorod Republic, Sweden and the Russian Empire. In 1920, after civil war and the first Soviet-Finnish war, the western part of Karelia was transferred to Finland.

The territory was returned after the Second World War, although part of the historical region of Karelia remained part of Finland - the administrative units of North and South Karelia still exist there. Since the end of World War II, the Russian-Finnish border has not changed and has never been challenged by the official Finnish government.

However, recently, in Finland, moods for the return of Karelian lands have been growing - according to sociological surveys, at least a third of the population is in favor of uniting Karelia under the Finnish flag. Recently, several political organizations have emerged advocating the return of the disputed territory.

Svalbard

The Svalbard Islands were first visited in the 12th century by the Pomors who inhabited Rus'. They were finally discovered by the famous Dutch navigator Willem Barents in 1596. Since then, whaling and walrus hunting have been regularly carried out on the island, until by XIX the animals were completely exterminated.

On Russian maps at that time, this territory was designated as part of the Russian Empire, although Denmark and Great Britain also had claims to it. At the same time, in fact, the islands remained without any control until the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1920, Norway, taking advantage of the collapse of the Russian Empire, declared its rights to Svalbard. After that, an international treaty was signed on the special legal status of Svalbard, according to which the archipelago was recognized as the territory of the Norwegian crown.

At the same time, all countries that signed the treaty had the right to conduct commercial and research activities on the islands. Svalbard was also recognized as a demilitarized zone.

Between the world wars, coal mining was actively carried out on the archipelago, in addition, Svalbard became one of the centers of polar aviation. During the war, many mines were destroyed, but after mining resumed - mainly thanks to the efforts of Norway and the USSR.

By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, Svalbard's coal reserves had run out and the Norwegian settlements on the island refocused their economy on Arctic tourism. The Norwegian authorities took a position of protecting the ecological situation in the archipelago, introducing new laws in the 2000s that severely limited the activities of organizations on the islands.

The Russian part of Spitsbergen could not adapt to the new realities, and in this moment lives on government subsidies. However, the Russian population of Svalbard is no more than 500 people, most of whom live in the village of Barentsburg. At the same time, about two thousand Norwegians live on the islands.

Russia and Norway have not officially disputed the ownership of Svalbard, although the countries have recently had territorial claims against each other. They concerned primarily the drawing of the border in the waters of the Barents Sea. The Russian side drew the border along the coast of the island of Spitsbergen, while the Norwegians insisted that the border should pass at an equal distance from Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land.

The dispute entered an active phase when hydrocarbon reserves were discovered in this sea area. In addition, there is a brisk fishing industry, and Russian and Norwegian border guards often arrested fishing boats here. In 2010, the dispute was resolved by the signing of a demarcation agreement, which was drawn up on a compromise basis.

Alaska

Alaska was discovered by Russian navigators in the 18th century and until 1867 was controlled by the so-called Russian-American company. However, after the unsuccessful Crimean War, it became clear that Russia was simply not able to protect such a remote and undeveloped territory as Alaska.

In addition, after Alexander II carried out large-scale reforms, the treasury was very short of money, and the government decided to sell the peninsula. The amount of the deal with the US authorities amounted to 7.2 million dollars, that is, 4.74 dollars per square kilometer.

Almost immediately after the sale, gold was discovered in Alaska, but the mining industry began to develop actively only towards the end of the 19th century, when Golden fever. In 1959, Alaska became a state, and now there is extensive mining, including oil.

Since the sale of the peninsula, official Russia has never expressed its rights to it, although a reminder of the Russian past of Alaska keeps popping out of the lips of politicians. Of course, in the wake of these sentiments is Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has long been proposing to demand Alaska back from the United States. After the events in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation, talk about the return of Alaska resumed with renewed vigor, although for the most part they are more of a comic nature.