Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (, , ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

Sakhalin Oblast Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalinskaya oblastʹ, p=səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Russian ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It is located on

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

Island in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

, north of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Gas and oil extraction as well as processing are amongst the main industries on the island. It was called Vladimirovka () from 1882 to 1905, then during its period of

Imperial Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

ese control from 1905 to 1946. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 181,728.

History

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk began as a small Russian settlement called Vladimirovka, founded by convicts in 1882.Южно-сахалинск - Исторический словарь - Словари и Энциклопедии
/ref> The Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905, which brought an end to the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

of 1904–1905, awarded the southern half of the

Island to

. Vladimirovka was renamed Toyohara (meaning "bountiful plain"), and was the prefect capital of the Japanese

Karafuto Prefecture , was established by the Empire of Japan in 1907 to govern the southern part of Sakhalin. This territory became part of the Empire of Japan in 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War, when the portion of Sakhalin south of 50°N was ceded by the R ...

. During the

Soviet–Japanese War The Soviet–Japanese War)Known in Mongolia as the Liberation War of 1945 () was a campaign of the Second World War that began with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 8 August 1945. The ...

within

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the city was recaptured by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

troops. Ownership of the city was transferred to the Soviet Union and it was renamed Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Town status was granted to it in 1946. File:Vladimirovka.gif, Early days of Vladimirovka File:Japanese SL D51-22.jpg, This Japanese

D51 steam locomotive The is a type of 2-8-2 steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR) and later by the Japanese National Railways (JNR). Designed by JGR's chief mechanical engineer Hideo Shima, they were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries R ...

stands outside the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Railway Station File:Католическая церковь в Южно-Сахалинске. (1).JPG, Catholic church in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Administrative and municipal status

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is the

of the

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

.Law #25-ZO Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with ten rural localities, incorporated as the city of oblast significance of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is incorporated as Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Urban Okrug.

Economy and infrastructure

Due to significant investment from oil companies like

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

and

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk has experienced substantial economic growth. Although this growth has primarily occurred in the northern part of the island, both companies maintain headquarters and residential complexes in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk itself. The demand for natural resources by the

ese, Chinese, and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

ns has ensured continued prosperity in the foreseeable future for the entire island. There has been significant criticism, including from Presidential Envoy Kamil Iskhakov, that Sakhalin is not caring for its citizens. Despite sizable gas deposits and incoming investments from gas companies, the regional administration does not yet have plans for the installation of gas services on the island. However, several improvements in the city have been made and it continues to grow in various aspects every year. One of the very few remaining Japanese buildings in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk now functions as the

local museum A local museum or local history museum is a type of museum that shows the historical development of a place/region (local history) using exhibits. These museums usually maintain a collection of historic three-dimensional objects which are ex ...

. The building was designed in the Emperor's Crown Style by Japanese architect Yoshio Kaizuka, and completed in 1937. File:Downtown Yuzhno.jpg, Central part of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk File:Toyohara museum.jpg, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk museum during Japanese rule File:Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Museum July 2012.jpg, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk museum in 2012

Transportation

The city hosts the head office of Aurora Airline, subsidiary of

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

. It is served by the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport. The city is also the hub for the island's narrow gauge railway network that underwent conversion to Russian broad gauge in August 2019. In addition to railways, the town is also a hub for roadways, such as the A-391 (which travels south to Korsakov) and the A-392 (which travels west to Kholmsk). Due to restrictions, foreigners wishing to leave Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in order to travel to any other part of the Sakhalin Oblast and its internal and territorial waters are required to seek permission from the

Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation �СБ, ФСБ России (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterin ...

(FSB) and the

Border Guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...

. Scuba diving and recreating on the seacoast is permitted only in places defined by the Border Guard. Yuzhno Sakhalinsk train station.JPG, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Railway Station 22090307285-yuzhno-sakhalinsk-airport-2015-russia.jpg, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport Aurora_Airbus_A319_at_SVO.jpg, Airbus A319 of Aurora Airline Проспект Победы. Вид снизу. (1).JPG, Toyohara Avenue

Education

Institutes of elementary and middle education included Sakhalin International School until its closure in March 2022. Institutes of higher education in the city include

Sakhalin State University Sakhalin State University ( Russian: Сахалинский государственный университет/ tr: ''Sakhalinskiy gosudarstvenn'iy universitet'') is a university located in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin. It maintains a sister s ...

and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Institute of Economics, Law and Informatics. There are also some branches of other universities: *Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk institute (branch) of Russian State trade-economics university *Branch of Far East State university of railways *Branch of Modern Academy of the humanities *Branch of The Pacific State economics university *Branch of Russian economics academy named after G.V. Plekhanov *Branch of Far East law institute

Sport

There exist numerous sport venues and clubs in Sakhalin. FC Sakhalin Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, PSK Sakhalin, Vostok-65, Sakhalin Sharks,

for football, hockey, basketball, youth hockey and volleyball respectively. Mount Bolshevik provides the Gorny Vozdukh ("Mountain Air") ski resort which is qualified for international competitions. 2015-sakhalin-oji_eagles.jpg, PSK Sakhalin players in Crystal Ice Palace Spartak_Stadium_Yuzhno_Sakhalinsk.JPG, Spartak Stadium of FC Sakhalin Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Горный воздух Южно-Сахалинске.JPG, Gorny Vozdukh ski resort Gondola_lift_to_Skiing_resorts_"Gorny_Vozdukh"_in_summer._Sakhalin,_Russia.jpg, Ski lifts of Gorny Vozdukh ski resort Арена-Сити. Южно-Сахалинск..JPG, Arena City Ice Palace

Mass media

Television

*3 - 1TV Russia *5 - Rossiya-24 ( Russia-24) *10- Rossiya-1 (Russia-1) *12 - ASTV (Alternative Sakhalin Television) *21 - The first multiplex digital TV DVB T2 *23 - Che *27 -

Domashny Domashny ( rus, Домашний, p=dɐˈmaʂnʲɪj, t=Home Channel) is a Russian TV network which targets female viewers aged 25–60. It was launched in March 2005. Domashny was aimed to deliver programming to capture an attractive audience in ...

/ OTV (Sakhalin Regional Television) *30 - NTV Russia *33 -

STS STS, or sts, may refer to: Medicine * Secondary traumatic stress, a condition which leads to a diminished ability to empathize * Sequence-tagged site, a gene-reference in genomics * Soft-tissue sarcoma * Staurosporine, an antibiotic * STS (gene ...

*35 - Ren-TV / Echo of Sakhalin *43 -

Match TV Match! TV () is a Russian free-to-air federal sports television channel owned by Gazprom Media. The channel began broadcasting on November 1, 2015, and had been created in accordance with the order of Russian president Vladimir Putin, with the a ...

Russia (ex. Russia-2) *46 - Petersburg–Channel 5 *49 - Rossiya-K (Russia-K) *51 - The second multiplex of digital TV DVB T2

Radio

*87,9 Autoradio (plan) *88,3 Retro FM *88,9 Radio Record *89,9 Russian Radio *101,7

Radio Chanson Radio is the technology of telecommunication, communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

*102,5

Europa Plus Europa Plus () is a Russian commercial radio station. It is owned by the European Media Group and started broadcasting on 30 April 1990 in the Soviet Union. The station primarily plays hot AC and Top 40 music. Europa Plus spans across Russia, ...

*102,9 Humor FM *103,5

Mayak The Mayak Production Association (, , from 'lighthouse') is one of the largest nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation, housing Production reactor, production reactors (''non'' electricity) and a reprocessing plant. The closest settlement ...

*104,4

Love Radio Love Radio is a broadcast FM radio network in the Philippines owned by MBC Media Group. Its headquarters are located at Cultural Center of the Philippine Complex, Pasay, Manila. The network's original format is Adult contemporary music, easy-l ...

*105,1 Radio Dacha (plan) *105,5 Radio ASTV *106,0 Radio Rossii *106,5 Dorognoe Radio *107,2 Vesti FM

Demographics

Population

Most residents are ethnic

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, but there also exists a sizable population of Korean Russians. Of the 43,000

Sakhalin Koreans Sakhalin Koreans (; ) are Russian citizens and residents of Korean descent living on Sakhalin Island, who can trace their roots to the immigrants from the Gyeongsang Province, Gyeongsang and Jeolla Province, Jeolla provinces of Korea during th ...

, half are estimated to live in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, comprising roughly 12% of the city's population. Also smaller numbers of indigenous minorities, such as Ainu, Nivkhs and Oroks can be found.

Religion

The majority of the population are

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

Geography

The city is located on the Susuya River. It is the largest city on the island, and the only one with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The straight-line distance to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

is .

Climate

The climate is

humid continental Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb'') with mild summers and cold winters. Maritime influences can be seen in that precipitation is much higher than in interior Russia and that summers are distinctly cooler than in

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

, while winters are much milder. Summers are frequently

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...

gy, reducing the amount of sunshine. Considering its southerly maritime position winters are very cold, albeit warmer than expected for surrounding inland areas affected by the

Siberian High The Siberian High (also Siberian Anticyclone; (''Aziatsky antitsiklon''); zh, 西伯利亞高壓; Pinyin ''Xībólìyǎ gāoyā''; Kazakh Азия антициклоны (''Aziya antitsiklonı'')) is a massive collection of cold dry air that a ...

. Snowfall is more frequent than in those areas, due to said maritime influence bringing moisture to the coastline. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is relatively sunny compared to

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

locations, but gloomy by the lower latitudes of the Russian Far East's standards.

Twin towns and sister cities

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is twinned with: *

Asahikawa is a Cities of Japan, city in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of the subprefecture, and the second-largest city in Hokkaido, after Sapporo. It has been a Core cities of Japan, core city since April 1, 2000. The city i ...

Hakodate is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of January 31, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 239,813 with 138,807 househol ...

, Japan *

Wakkanai file:Wakkanai city office.JPG, 290px, Wakkanai City Hall file:Wakkanai shore.jpg, 290px, Shore of Wakkanai is a Cities of Japan, city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Wakkanai is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. Situated approx ...

, Japan *

Yanji Yanji (; Korean: ; alternately romanized as Yenki or Yenji) is a county-level city in the east of China's Jilin Province, and is the seat of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. Yanji City is located in the eastern part of Jilin Province. ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Ansan Ansan (, ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies southwest of Seoul and is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area. It is connected to Seoul by rail via Seoul Subway Line 4. It is situated on the Yellow Sea coast and some islands lie ...

Notable people

* Natalya Pechonkina (maiden name Burda, later Chistyakova); born July 15, 1946, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) is a

athlete. She competed for the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

in the 400 metres where she won the bronze medal. * Alexander Godunov; born November 28, 1949, died May 18, 1995, was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor.

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Official website of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
{{Use mdy dates, date=May 2011 Russian Far East 1882 establishments in the Russian Empire Imperial Crown Style architecture