Subjects of the Empress Eugenia

Imagine that you are in one of the districts of a fairly large city, but wherever you go, you will come to the edge of the earth. This is how the people of the Empress Eugenia archipelago live, the islands of which are administratively part of the Vladivostok city. 

The most inhabited part of the archipelago consists of three large islands — Russkiy, Popova and Reinecke. Only the Russkiy island is connected to the mainland by a cable-stayed bridge. Residents of the rest are forced to lead an autonomous lifestyle, use water transport, and in winter risk their lives getting to civilization on the ice.

The fish processing enterprises, scientific laboratories and military units that flourished in the middle of the XX century left behind not only abandoned infrastructure on the islands, but also people who stayed here to live. Isolation from the mainland leaves an imprint on the lifestyle and worldview of permanent residents who mention the special “magic” of these territories. 

Many of them are attracted by privacy, proximity to nature and even relative freedom from the rules. History, having made another spiral turn, today launches the development of these territories again. According to many development concepts of Vladivostok, the islands are considered as a promising part of the city for the development of tourism and special urban agglomerations. 

Right now the Russian Island is home to modern campuses of the Far Eastern Federal University and tourist sites. The proximity of the past the present and the  future is felt especially acutely on the islands. Therefore, the question arises, how long will the “magic” of these places, about which the islanders talk so much, last?