Sankovo-Medvezhye (russian: Саньково-Медвежье; be, Санькова-Мядзвежжа, ''Sańkova-Miadzviežža'') is a Russian

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

surrounded by

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

(with an area of 454

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s, 4.5 km² or 1.7 sq mi). It is situated in the east of Dobrush Raion of Homiel Voblast, 5 km from the Russian village of Dobrodeyevka. Sankovo-Medvezhye is a part of

Zlynkovsky District Zlynkovsky District (russian: Злы́нковский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #13-Z and municipalLaw #3-Z district (raion), one of the twenty-seven in Bryansk Oblast, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the oblast. The area of ...

of Bryansk Oblast and is just 800 m ( mi) from the Belarusian–Russian border, from which it is separated by marshes. The name of the exclave comes from the villages Sankovo and Medvezhye, which existed in this area during Soviet times.

History

At the beginning of the 20th century settlers from the neighboring village of Dobrodeyevka left in search of jobs in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Having worked as miners in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, they returned before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out. New farmers bought holdings and established individual farms. In 1926, during the administrative reform, the state border between the

Byelorussian Soviet Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

and Russian Soviet Republic was moved to the east but administratively the villages Sankovo and Medvezhye became a part of Russia's Bryansk Oblast. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

destroyed these villages, but after the war Russians re-settled the region.

Current status

Due to the nuclear disaster that occurred in

Chernobyl Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...

in 1986 this area is abandoned. Housing and any other activity are now completely forbidden. The

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

still officially has jurisdiction over the area.The Atlas of Unusual Borders by Zoran Nikolič. ISBN 978-0-00-835177-9.p. 48

References

{{reflist

External links

Sankovo-Medvezhye (Russian exclave in Belarus)
Enclaves and exclaves Geography of Bryansk Oblast Geography of Gomel Region Belarus–Russia border

History

Current status

See also

References

External links