For at least three hundred years, Russia has been a great maritime power, whose fleet has earned the right to be considered one of the best in the world. In this regard, the question of how many seas and oceans are washed by Russia is not at all idle, because in many Russian regions the economy is connected with the sea, and national security is provided taking into account the coastal status of the subjects of the federation.
Russian coastline
Geographers claim that the length of the country's coastline is approximately 38.5 thousand kilometers. By the length of the coastline, the Russian Federation ranks third in the world, second only to Canada and Indonesia.
Given how many seas and oceans wash Russia, it is not surprising that the physical and geographical conditions of the coastline differ significantly from region to region. However, despite all the variety of natural conditions, we can conclude that all the seas washing the Russian coast belong to the basins of three oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic.
The exception is only one sea, which according to international classification is closed. It is about the Caspian Sea. All the other twelve seas are open and belong to any ocean. Below we will not only talk about how many seas and oceans wash Russia, but also in what geographical conditions the seas are.
Seas of the atlantic ocean
To answer the question of how many seas of the Atlantic Ocean wash Russia, is quite simple. Three seas belong to the basin of this ocean, washing the shores of very different Russian regions.
The northernmost sea of all those belonging to the Atlantic Ocean and washing Russia is the Baltic Sea. On the shores of the Baltic Sea itself is the Kaliningrad Region, and the waters of the Gulf of Finland are washed by the shores of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. It is worth noting that St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia and the largest seaport.
The southern territories of Russia are washed by two other seas, also related to the Atlantic Ocean. The Sea of Azov, on the banks of which the Rostov Region and the Krasnodar Territory are located, also bathes the territory of Ukraine, thus, the state border passes through its waters.
Through the Kerch Strait, the Sea of Azov is connected to the Black Sea, which also belongs to the Atlantic Ocean. The Black Sea is washed by the shores of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia and the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia. All territories located on the shores of this sea are traditionally referred to in the scientific literature as the Black Sea coast.
Through the Bosphorus Strait, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles, the waters of the Black Sea mix with the Mediterranean Sea, and through it communicate with the Atlantic Ocean. The Black Sea coast lies in a subtropical climate zone, which makes it very popular among beach lovers.
On the other side of the Caucasus Range lies the vast inland sea - the Caspian. Some geographers, however, tend to consider the Caspian Sea the largest drainless salt lake on Earth. As it has already become clear, not a single river flows out of the sea, but the Volga is the largest river flowing into it.
Pacific seas
Continuing the story of how much the sea and oceans wash Russia, you need to travel to the Far East, whose shores overlook the Pacific Ocean. Three seas belong to the Pacific basin in Russia: Japan, Bering and Okhotsk.
The Sea of Okhotsk is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands and the large island of Hokkaido. At the same time, it is separated from the neighboring Sea of Japan by the island of Sakhalin.
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, from which it is separated by the Japanese islands.
Arctic Ocean
To the Arctic Ocean is the most seas washing Russia. The ocean approaches Russia with six marginal seas, which include:
- Barents.
- White.
- Kara.
- Laptevih sea.
- East Siberian.
- Chukchi.
The largest city on the shores of the Arctic Ocean is Murmansk, which is located on the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea.
Summing up the story about how many seas of the oceans wash the coast of Russia, it must be said that the seas of Russia belong to the basins of three oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic. In total, in Russia there are 12 open seas and 1 closed.