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Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of
Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
and the capital of the
Far Eastern Federal District The Far Eastern Federal District ( rus, Дальневосточный федеральный округ, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstot͡ɕnɨj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is the largest and the least populated federal districts of Russia, federa ...
of Russia. It is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the
Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...
, covering an area of , with a population of 603,519 residents Vladivostok is the second-largest city in the
Far Eastern Federal District The Far Eastern Federal District ( rus, Дальневосточный федеральный округ, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstot͡ɕnɨj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is the largest and the least populated federal districts of Russia, federa ...
, as well as 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 ...
, after
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 ...
. It is located approximately from the
China–Russia border The Chinese–Russian border or the Sino-Russian border is the Border, international border between China and Russia. After the final demarcation carried out in the early 2000s, it measures ,
and from the
North Korea–Russia border The North Korea–Russia border, according to the official Russian definition, consists of of "terrestrial border" and 22.1 km (12 nautical miles) of "maritime border". It is the shortest of the international borders of Russia. Description ...
. What is now Vladivostok was part of
Outer Manchuria Outer Manchuria, sometimes called Russian Manchuria, refers to a region in Northeast Asia that is now part of the Russian Far East but historically formed part of Manchuria (until the mid-19th century). While Manchuria now more normatively refer ...
. Shortly after the signing of the
Treaty of Aigun The Treaty of Aigun was an 1858 treaty between the Russian Empire and Yishan, official of the Qing dynasty of China. It established much of the modern border between the Russian Far East and China by ceding much of Manchuria (the ancestral h ...
between
Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty ...
and the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
and affirmed by the
Convention of Peking The Convention of Peking or First Convention of Peking is an agreement comprising three distinct unequal treaties concluded between the Qing dynasty of China and Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire in 1860. Background On 18 October ...
– from which it is also known as the
Amur Annexation Between 1858 and 1860, the Russian Empire annexed territories adjoining the Amur River belonging to the Chinese Qing dynasty through the imposition of unequal treaties. The 1858 Treaty of Aigun, signed by the general Nikolay Muravyov represent ...
– the city was founded as a Russian military outpost on July 2, 1860. In 1872, the main Russian naval base on the Pacific Ocean was transferred to the city, stimulating its growth. In 1914 the city experienced rapid growth economically and ethnically diverse with population exceeding over 100,000 inhabitants with slightly less than half of the population being Russians. During this time, large Asian communities developed in the city. The public life of the city flourished; many public associations were created, from charities to hobby groups. After the outbreak of the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
in 1917, Vladivostok was occupied in 1918 by White Russian and Allied forces, the last of whom, from the
Japanese Empire 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 1910 to ...
, were not withdrawn until 1922 as part of its wider intervention in Siberia; by that time the antirevolutionary
White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...
forces had collapsed. That same year, the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
occupied the city, absorbing the
Far Eastern Republic The Far Eastern Republic ( rus, Дальневосточная Республика, Dal'nevostochnaya Respublika, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstotɕnəjə rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə, links=yes; ), sometimes called the Chita Republic (, ), was a nominally indep ...
into the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
. Following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
in 1991, the city became a part of the
Russian Federation 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 ...
. Vladivostok remains the largest Russian port on the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
, and the chief cultural, economic, scientific, and tourism hub of the Russian Far East. As the terminus of the
Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...
, the city was visited by over three million tourists in 2017. The city is the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District, and is the home to the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet of the
Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...
. Due to its geographical position in Asia combined with its
Russian architecture The architecture of Russia refers to the architecture of modern Russia as well as the architecture of both the original Kievan Rus', the Russian principalities, and Imperial Russia. Due to the geographical size of modern and Imperial Russia, i ...
, the city has been referred to as "Europe in the Far East". Many foreign consulates and businesses have offices in Vladivostok, and the city hosts the annual
Eastern Economic Forum Eastern Economic Forum ( or ВЭФ) is an international forum held each year in Vladivostok, Russia, for the purpose of encouraging foreign investment in the Russian Far East. It is held each year since 2015 in September, at the Far Eastern Fe ...
. With a yearly mean temperature of around , Vladivostok has a cold climate for its mid-latitude coastal setting. This is due to winds from the vast
Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...
n landmass in winter and the cooling ocean temperatures.


Names and etymology

''Vladivostok'' means 'Lord of the East' or 'Ruler of the East'. The name derives from Slavic (, 'to rule') and Russian (, 'east'); Colloquial Russian speech may use the short form ''Vladik'' () or "vdk" () to refer to the city. The city, along with other features in the
Peter the Great Gulf The Peter the Great Gulf (Russian: Залив Петра Великого) is a gulf on the southern coast of Primorsky Krai, Russia, and the largest gulf of the Sea of Japan. The gulf extends for from the Russian–North Korean border, at the ...
area, was first given its modern name in 1859 by
Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky Count Nikolay Nikolayevich Muravyov-Amursky (also spelled as Nikolai Nikolaevich Muraviev-Amurskiy; ; – ) was a Russian general, statesman and diplomat, who played a major role in the expansion of the Russian Empire into the Amur River basin a ...
. The name initially applied to the bay, but following an expedition by Alexey Karlovich Shefner in 1860, it was later applied to the new settlement. The form of the name appears analogous to that of the city of
Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...
("Ruler of the Caucasus" or "Rule the Caucasus"), now in
North Ossetia–Alania North Ossetia–Alania (; ), officially the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. It borders the country of Georgia (country), Georgia to the south, a ...
, which was founded and named by the Russian Empire in 1784. Chinese maps from the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
(1271–1368) referred to Vladivostok as ( zh, t=永明城, p=Yǒngmíngchéng, lit

City of Eternal Light, labels=no). Since the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
, the city has also been known as /''Haishenwei''/''Hai-shen-wei'' ( zh, t= 海參崴, p=Hǎishēnwǎi, Hǎishēnwēi, l=
sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class (biology), class Holothuroidea ( ). They are benthic marine animals found on the sea floor worldwide, and the number of known holothuroid species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number be ...
bay, labels=no) from Mandarin Chinese, ultimately from the
Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...
() or ''small seaside fishing village''. However, according to
National Chung Cheng University National Chung Cheng University (CCU; ) is a national university in Minxiong Township, Chiayi County, Taiwan. CCU is a member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. History National Chung Cheng University was the first ...
's research department for Manchu studies, the Manchu name comes from Chinese, specifically
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
, that was named for its historical abundance of sea cucumbers. In China, Vladivostok is now officially known by the transliteration ), although the historical Chinese name () is still used in common parlance and outside
Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...
to refer to the city. According to the provisions of the Chinese government, all maps published in China must bracket the city's Chinese name. The modern-day Japanese name of the city is transliterated as . Historically, the city's name was transliterated with Kanji as and shortened to (, ).


History


Foundation

Some modern Chinese historians claim that the city was the site of a Chinese settlement around 600 AD, where it was known as Yongmingcheng (永明城 'Yǒngmíngchéng'' "city of eternal light") during the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
. However the director of the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East in Vladivostok, disputed this claim in 2016 and said that the fact that Russia had built Vladivostok "is a historical fact that cannot be rewritten", and that the notion that Vladivostok was ever a Chinese town is a "myth" based on a misreading of evidence that a few Chinese sometimes came to the area to fish and collect
sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class (biology), class Holothuroidea ( ). They are benthic marine animals found on the sea floor worldwide, and the number of known holothuroid species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number be ...
s. For a long time, the Russian government looked for a stronghold in the
Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...
; this role was played in turn by the settlements of
Okhotsk Okhotsk ( rus, Охотск, p=ɐˈxotsk) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk. Population: ...
, Ayan,
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Kamchatka Krai, Russia. It is located in the Far East of the country and lies along the coast of Avacha Bay by the Pacific Ocean, nearby Khalaktyrskoye Lake. As of the 202 ...
, and
Nikolaevsk-on-Amur Nikolayevsk-on-Amur () is a town in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia located on the Amur River close to its liman in the Pacific Ocean. Population: 17,815 (2024); History Medieval and early-modern history In the late Middle Ages, the people living alon ...
. By the middle of the 19th-century, the search for the outpost had reached a dead end. None of the ports met the necessary requirement: to have a convenient and protected harbor next to important trade routes.Turmov G.P., Khisamutdinov A.A. Vladivostok. Historical guide. – M .: Veche, 2010. – 304 p. – . After China was threatened with war on a second front by Governor-General of the Far East Nikolay Muraviev when China was suppressing the
Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...
, the Aigun Treaty was concluded by Muraviev's forces, after which Russian exploration of the Amur region began, and later, as a result of the signing of the
Treaty of Tientsin The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several Unequal treaty, unequal treaties signed at Tianjin (then Postal Map Romanization, romanized as Tientsin) in June 1858. The Qing Empire, Qing dynasty, ...
and the
Convention of Peking The Convention of Peking or First Convention of Peking is an agreement comprising three distinct unequal treaties concluded between the Qing dynasty of China and Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire in 1860. Background On 18 October ...
, the territory of modern Vladivostok was annexed to Russia. The name Vladivostok appeared in the middle of 1859, was used in newspaper articles and denoted a bay. On June 20 (or July 2 of the
Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...
), 1860 the transport of the Siberian Military Flotilla "Mandzhur" under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Alexei Karlovich Shefner delivered a military unit to the Golden Horn Bay to establish a military post, which has now officially received the name of Vladivostok.


Early history

On October 31, 1861, the first civilian settler, a merchant, Yakov Lazarevich Semyonov, arrived in Vladivostok with his family. On March 15, 1862, the first act of his purchase of land was registered, and in 1870 Semyonov was elected the first head of the post, and a local self-government emerged. By this time, a special commission decided to designate Vladivostok as the main port of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
in the Far East. In 1871, the main naval base of the Siberian Military Flotilla, the headquarters of the military governor and other naval departments were transferred from Nikolaevsk-on-Amur to Vladivostok. In the 1870s, the government encouraged resettlement to the South Ussuri region, which contributed to an increase in the population of the post: according to the first census of 1878, there were 4,163 inhabitants. The city status was adopted and the city Duma was established, the post of the city head, the coat of arms was adopted, although Vladivostok was not officially recognized as a city. Due to the constant threat of attack from the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
, Vladivostok also actively developed as a naval base. In 1880, the post officially received the status of a city. The 1890s saw a demographic and economic boom associated with the completion of the construction of the Ussuriyskaya branch of the
Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...
and the Chinese-Eastern Railway. According to the first census of the population of Russia on February 9, 1897, roughly 29,000 inhabitants lived in Vladivostok, and 10 years later the city's population had tripled. Korean haenyeo divers from
Jeju Island Jeju Island (Jeju language, Jeju/) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of , which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. Alongside outlying islands, it is part of Jeju Province and makes up the majority of the province. The i ...
and vicinities were active in Vladivostok. The first decade of the 20th-century was characterized by a protracted crisis caused by the political situation: the government's attention was shifted to Lüshunkou and the Port of
Dalian Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...
(Talien). As well as the
Boxer uprising The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious ...
in North China in 1900–1901, 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, and finally the first Russian revolution led to stagnation in the economic activity of Vladivostok. Since 1907, a new stage in the development of the city began: the losses of Lüshunkou and Dalian (Talien) again made Vladivostok the main port of Russia on the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
. A free port regime was introduced, and until 1914 the city experienced rapid growth, becoming an important economic hub in the Asia-Pacific, as well as an ethnically diverse city with a population exceeding over 100,000 inhabitants: during the time ethnic Russians made up less than half of the population, and large Asian communities developed in the city. The public life of the city flourished; many public associations were created, from charities to hobby groups.


World War I and Russian Civil War

During
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, no active hostilities took place in the city. However, Vladivostok was an important staging post for the import of military-technical equipment for troops from allied and neutral countries, as well as raw materials and equipment for industry. Immediately after the
October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
in 1917, during which the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
came to power, the
Decree on Peace The Decree on Peace, written by Vladimir Lenin, was passed by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies on the , following the October Revolution. It was published in the '' Izvestiya'' newspaper, #208, . Prop ...
was announced, and as a result of the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...
concluded between the Bolshevik government of Russia and the
Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...
, led to the end of
Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
's participation in World War I. On October 30, the sailors of the Siberian Military Flotilla decided to "rally around the united power of the Soviets", and the power of Vladivostok, as well as all of the Trans-Siberian Railway passed to the Bolsheviks. During the
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
, from May 1918, they lost control of the city to the
White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...
-allied
Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion ( Czech: ''Československé legie''; Slovak: ''Československé légie'') were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the ...
, who declared the city to be an Allied protectorate. Vladivostok became the staging point for the Allies' Siberian intervention, a multi-national force including Japan, the United States and China; China sent forces to protect the local Chinese community after appeals from Chinese merchants. The intervention ended in the wake of the collapse of the White Army and regime in 1919; all Allied forces except the Japanese withdrew by the end of 1920. Throughout 1919 the region was engulfed in a partisan war. To avoid a war with Japan, with the filing of the Soviet leadership, the
Far Eastern Republic The Far Eastern Republic ( rus, Дальневосточная Республика, Dal'nevostochnaya Respublika, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstotɕnəjə rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə, links=yes; ), sometimes called the Chita Republic (, ), was a nominally indep ...
, a Soviet-backed buffer state between Soviet Russia and Japan, was proclaimed on April 6, 1920. The Soviet government officially recognized the new republic in May, but in Primorye a riot occurred, where significant forces of the
White Movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...
were located, leading to the creation of the
Provisional Priamurye Government The Provisional Priamurye Government or Provisional Priamur Government () existed in the region of Priamurye of the Russian Far East between May 27, 1921 and June 16, 1923. It was the last Russian State enclave during the Russian Civil War. ...
, with Vladivostok as its capital. In October 1922, the troops of the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
of the Far Eastern Republic under the command of
Ieronim Uborevich Ieronim Petrovich Uborevich (; ; – 12 June 1937) was a Soviet military commander of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, reaching the rank of komandarm in 1935. He was executed during the Great Purge in June 1937 and was posthumously ...
occupied Vladivostok, displacing the
White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...
formations from it. In November, the Far Eastern Republic liquidated and became a part of Soviet Russia.


Soviet period

By the time of the establishment of Soviet power, Vladivostok was clearly in decline. The retreating forces of the
Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
(IJA) removed items of material value from the city. Life was paralyzed; there was no money in the banks, and the equipment of enterprise was plundered. Due to mass migration and repression, the city's population decreased to 106,000 inhabitants. Between 1923 and 1925, the government adopted a "three-year restoration" plan, during which operations at the commercial port were resumed, and it became the most profitable in the country (from 1924 to 1925). The "restoration" period was distinguished by a number of peculiarities: 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 ...
did not adopt '
war communism War communism or military communism (, ''Vojenný kommunizm'') was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1921. War communism began in June 1918, enforced by the Supreme Economi ...
', but was, immediately, inducted to the
New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...
. In 1925, the government decided to accelerate the industrialization of the country. A number of subsequent "five-year plans" changed the face of Primorye, making it an industrial region, partly as a result of the creation of numerous concentration camps in the region. In the 1930s and 1940s, Vladivostok served as a transit point on the route used to deliver prisoners and cargo for the
Sevvostlag Sevvostlag (, North-Eastern Corrective Labor Camps) was a system of forced labor camps set up to satisfy the workforce requirements of the '' Dalstroy'' construction trust in the Kolyma region in April 1932. Organizationally being part of ''Dal ...
of the Soviet super-trust
Dalstroy Dalstroy (, ), also known as Far North Construction Trust, was an organization set up in 1931 in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in the Russian Far East, including the Magadan Region, Chukotka, parts of Yakutia and parts ...
. The notorious Vladivostok transit camp was located in the city. In addition, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Vladivostok forced labour camp (Vladlag) was located in the area of the Vtoraya Rechka railway station. Vladivostok was not a place of hostilities during the
Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...
, although there was a constant threat of attack from Japan. In the city, a "Defense Fund" was created (the first in the country), to which the residents of Vladivostok contributed personal wealth. During the war years Vladivostok handled imported cargo (
lend-lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...
) of a volume almost four times more than
Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...
and almost five times more than
Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...
. By the decree of the
Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ˌɛsˌɛsˌɛsˈɛr), sometimes abbreviated as Sovmin or referred to as the ...
"Issues of the Fifth Navy" dated August 11, 1951, a special regime was introduced in Vladivostok (it began to operate on January 1, 1952); the city was closed to foreigners. It was planned to remove from Vladivostok not only foreign consulates, but also the merchant and fish fleet and transfer all regional authorities to Voroshilov (now
Ussuriysk Ussuriysk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, in the valley of the Razdolnaya River. The city is north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about from both the China–Russia bo ...
). However, these plans were not implemented. During the years of the
Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw (, or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when Political repression in the Soviet Union, repression and Censorship in ...
, Vladivostok received special attention from state authorities. In 1954,
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
visited the city for the first time to finally decide whether to secure the status of a closed naval base for him. It was noted that at that time the urban infrastructure was in a deplorable state. In 1959, Khrushchev visited the city again. The result was a decision on the accelerated development of the city, which was formalized by the decree of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on January 18, 1960. During the 1960s, a new tram line was built, a trolleybus was launched, the city became a huge construction site: residential neighborhoods were being erected on the outskirts, and new buildings for public and civil purposes were erected in the center. In 1974,
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...
paid an official visit to Vladivostok, to meet with
Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...
, becoming the first President of the United States to visit the city. On September 20, 1991,
Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...
signed decree No. 123 "On the opening of Vladivostok for visiting by foreign citizens", which entered into force on January 1, 1992, ending Vladivostok's status as a closed city.


Modern period

In 2012, Vladivostok hosted the 24th APEC summit. Leaders from the
APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy , economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Following the success of Association of Southeast Asia ...
member countries met at
Russky Island Russky Island () is an island in Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan, in Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is the largest island in the Eugénie Archipelago, separated from the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula immediately to the north by the Eastern ...
, off the coast of Vladivostok. With the summit on Russky Island, the government and private businesses inaugurated
resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...
s, dinner and entertainment facilities, in addition to the renovation and upgrading of
Vladivostok International Airport Vladivostok International Airport ( ''Mezhdunarodnyi aeroport Vladivostok'') is an international airport located near Artyom, Primorsky Krai, Russia, roughly an hour's drive () north of the center of the city of Vladivostok. It was formerly know ...
. Two giant
cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...
s were built in preparation for the summit, the Zolotoy Rog bridge over the
Zolotoy Rog Zolotoy Rog () or the Golden Horn Bay, is a sheltered horn-shaped bay of the Sea of Japan, located in coastal Primorsky Krai within the Russian Far East. Vladivostok, which lies on the hills at the head of the bay, is a major city and Russian ...
Bay in the center of the city, and the Russky Island Bridge from the mainland to Russky Island (the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world). The new campus of
Far Eastern Federal University Far Eastern Federal University (, ''Dalnevostochny federalny universitet'') is a public university in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia. In 2023 the university was ranked #434 by QS World University Rankings and among the 100 best universit ...
was completed on Russky Island in 2012. In December 2018, the seat of the
Far Eastern Federal District The Far Eastern Federal District ( rus, Дальневосточный федеральный округ, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstot͡ɕnɨj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is the largest and the least populated federal districts of Russia, federa ...
, established in May 2000, was moved from
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 ...
to Vladivostok. In November 2020, the city and region had experienced a rare weather phenomenon in the face of
freezing rain Freezing rain is rain maintained at temperatures below melting point, freezing by the ambient air mass that causes freezing on contact with surfaces. Unlike rain and snow mixed, a mixture of rain and snow or ice pellets, freezing rain is made en ...
caused by collision of warm and cold air masses. The result was wires and trees encrusted in ice up to thick. More than 1,500 homes were left without electricity, 900 without heating, 870 without hot water, 500 without cold water. Between 60% and 70% of Vladivostok's forests were damaged.


Politics

The structure of the city administration has the City Council at the top. The responsibilities of the administration of Vladivostok are: * Exercise of the powers to address local issues of Vladivostok in accordance with federal laws, normative legal acts of the Duma of Vladivostok, decrees and orders of the head of the city of Vladivostok; * The development and organization of the concepts, plans and programs for the development of the city, approved by the Duma of Vladivostok; * Development of the draft budget of the city; * Ensuring implementation of the budget; * The use of territory and infrastructure of the city; * Possession, use and disposal of municipal property in the manner specified by decision of the Duma of Vladivostok Legislative authority is vested in the City Council. The new City Council began operations in 2001 and in June that year, deputies of the Duma of the first convocation of Vladivostok began their work. On December 17, 2007, the Duma of the third convocation began. The deputies consist of 35 elected members, including 18 members chosen by a single constituency, and 17 deputies from single-seat constituencies.


Administrative and municipal status

Vladivostok is the administrative center of the
krai A krai or kray (; , , ''kraya'') is one of the types of federal subjects of modern Russia, and was a type of geographical administrative division in the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR. Etymologically, the word is related to the verb "" ...
. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with five rural localities, incorporated as Vladivostok City Under Krai Jurisdiction; an administrative unit 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 ...
in status.Law #161-KZ As a municipal division, Vladivostok City Under Krai Jurisdiction is incorporated as Vladivostoksky Urban Okrug.Law #179-KZ


Administrative divisions

Vladivostok is divided into five administrative districts: * * * * *


Local government

The city charter approved the following structure of local government bodies: * City Duma is a representative body * The head of the city is its highest official * Administration is the executive and administrative body * Chamber of Control and Accounts – controls the body Vladivostok City Duma's history dates from November 21, 1875, when 30 "vowels" were elected. Great changes took place after the 1917 Revolution, when the first general elections were held and women were allowed to vote. The last meeting of the Vladivostok City Duma took place on October 19, 1922, and on October 27 it was officially abolished. In Soviet times, its functions were performed by the City Council. In 1993, by a presidential decree, the Soviets were dissolved and, until 2001, all attempts to elect a new Duma were unsuccessful. The Duma of the city of Vladivostok of the fifth (current) convocation began work in the fall of 2017, consisting of 35 deputies. The head of Vladivostok, on the principles of one-man management, manages the city's administration, which he forms in accordance with federal laws, laws of the Primorsky Territory and the city charter. The city's administrative structure is approved by the City Duma on the proposal of the head, and may include sectoral (functional) and territorial bodies of the administration of Vladivostok. Igor Pushkaryov was the city's mayor from May 2008 to June 2016; previously he was a Federation Council member of Primorsky Krai. On June 27, 2016, Konstantin Loboda, the first deputy mayor, was appointed as the Vladivostok's new acting mayor. On December 21, 2017, Vitaly Vasilyevich Verkeenko was appointed the head of the city.


Demographics


Population, dynamics, age and sex

According to the Russian Census of 2021, Vladivostok had a population of 603,519, with 634,835 residents in the greater urban area. Since the city's founding its population has actively grown, save for the periods of the
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
and the demographic crisis after
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
in the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. In the 1970s, the population exceeded over 500,000, and in 1992 reached a historical high of over 648,000. The average population density is about 1,832 people/km2. The population has risen by 30,000. Since 2013, natural growth dynamics added 727 individuals to this figure by 2015's end. By 2020, Vladivostok's population reached over 600,000, as reported by the Russian Federal Statistics Bureau. The city's age distribution includes a large segment of older adults. Overall, the population includes 12.7% who are younger than able-bodied; 66.3% who are able-bodied; and 21% who are older than able-bodied. Vladivostok's population, like that of Russia as a whole, includes a significantly greater number of women than men.


Ethnic composition

The demographic makeup of the city went through significant changes since its foundation, and was marked by several waves of immigration from both Europe and Asia. From the late 1890s to the early 1920s, half of the city's population was Asian, with the
Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
being the largest Asian group, followed by
Koreans Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...
and
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
. The old Chinese quarter of the city was called Millionka and in its peak accommodated up to 50,000 Chinese residents. The neighbourhood had its own small shops, theatres, opium dens, brothels, and hideouts for smugglers and thieves. The city's economy was heavily dependent on the services provided by the Chinese merchants and businessmen in the neighbourhood. Specifically, the retail services of the city were controlled by the Chinese, as they had more retail shops than Russians did. There also existed an ethnic enclave of Koreans called
Sinhanch'on Sinhanch'on was an Ethnic enclave, enclave of Koreans in Vladivostok that existed between 1911 and 1937, during which time the city was controlled for periods by the Russian Empire, Far Eastern Republic and finally the Soviet Union. The enclave ...
. Koreans moved to the area in significant quantities following the
annexation of Korea Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...
by Japan in 1910. By 1915, the Korean population in the city stood at around 10,000. Sinhanch'on became a hub of the
Korean independence movement The Korean independence movement was a series of diplomatic and militant efforts to liberate Korea from Japanese rule. The movement began around the late 19th or early 20th century, and ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. As independence a ...
and hosted the first Korean provisional government, the Korean Independence Army Government. On the orders of
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
, both Millionka and Sinhanch'on were liquidated, and their residents deported between 1936 and 1938. Today, the city is much more homogeneous, with more than 90 percent declaring Russian ethnicity. However, there still exists a minority of Koreans and Chinese in Vladivostok, accounting for roughly 1 percent of the population, as well as more recent immigrants from
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
, mainly from
Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...
. Historical
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
,
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
,
Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...
,
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
, and Central Asian diasporas at the start of the 21st century have been little studied. According to the Russian census of 2010, Vladivostok's residents include representatives of over seventy nationalities and ethnic groups. Among them, the largest ethnic groups (over 1,000 people) are: ethnic Russians (475,200);
Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...
(10,474);
Uzbeks The Uzbeks () are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, being among the largest Turkic ethnic groups in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakhs, Kazakh and Karakalpaks, Karakalpak ...
(7,109); Koreans (4,192);
Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
(2,446);
Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary
are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...
(2,446);
Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...
(1,642);
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
(1,635); and
Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...
(1,252).


Economy

The city's main industries are
shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...
, commercial
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
, and the
naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that usu ...
. Fishing accounts for almost four-fifths of Vladivostok's commercial production. Other food production totals 11%. A very important employer and a major source of revenue for the city's inhabitants is the import of Japanese cars. Besides salesmen, the industry employs repairmen, fitters, import clerks as well as shipping and railway companies. The Vladivostok dealers sell 250,000 cars a year, with 200,000 going to other parts of Russia. Every third worker in the
Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
has some relation to the automobile import business. In recent years, the Russian government has made attempts to improve the country's own car industry. This has included raising tariffs for imported cars, which has put the car import business in Vladivostok in difficulties. To compensate, Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
ordered the car manufacturing company
Sollers Sollers is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Philippe Sollers (1936–2023), French writer and critic * Augustus Rhodes Sollers (1814–1862), American politician See also * Sollers JSC Sollers, formerly known as OAO Sever ...
to move one of its factories from Moscow to Vladivostok. The move was completed in 2009, and the factory now employs about 700 locals. It is planned to produce 13,200 cars in Vladivostok in 2010.


Seaport

Vladivostok is a link between the
Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...
and the Pacific Sea routes, making it an important cargo and passenger port. It processes both
cabotage Cabotage () is the transport of goods or passengers between two places in the same country. The term originally applied to shipping along coastal routes, port to port, but now applies to aviation, railways, and road transport as well. Cabotage rig ...
and export-import general cargo of a wide range. 20 stevedoring companies operate in the port. The cargo turnover of the Vladivostok port, including the total turnover of all stevedoring companies, at the end of 2018 amounted to 21.2 million tons. In 2015, the total volume of external trade seaport amounted to more than 11.8 billion dollars. Foreign economic activity was carried out with 104 countries.


Tourism

Vladivostok is located in the extreme southeast of the Russian Far East, and is the closest city to the countries of the Asia-Pacific with an exotic European culture, which makes it attractive to tourists. The city is included in the project for the development of the Far East tourism "Eastern Ring". Within the framework of the project, the Primorsky Stage of the
Mariinsky Theater The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...
was opened, and there are plans to open branches of the
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...
, the
Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...
, the
Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...
and the
State Museum of Oriental Art The State Museum of Oriental Art () is one of the biggest cultural institutions in the world for preservation, research, and display of Oriental art. The museum was founded in 1918 as a part of soviet programme to support unique cultures of USSR ...
. Vladivostok entered the top ten Russian cities for recreation and tourism according to Forbes, and also took the fourteenth place in the National Tourism Rating. In addition to being a cultural hub, the city also is a tourism hub in the
Peter the Great Gulf The Peter the Great Gulf (Russian: Залив Петра Великого) is a gulf on the southern coast of Primorsky Krai, Russia, and the largest gulf of the Sea of Japan. The gulf extends for from the Russian–North Korean border, at the ...
. The city's resort area is located on the coast of
Amur Bay Amur Bay (, ''Amurskiy Zaliv''), a major bay within Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan, has an approximate length of , a width of to , and a depth of . It is part of a larger bay formed with Ussuri Bay, to which it is connected by the ...
, which includes over 11 sanatoriums. Vladivostok also has a bustling gambling zone, which has over 11 casinos planned to open by 2023. Tigre de Cristal, the city's first casino, was visited by over 80,000 tourists, in less than a year of its opening. In 2017, the city was visited by around 3,000,000 tourists, including 640,000 foreigners, of which over 90% are tourists from Asia, specifically China, South Korea and Japan. Domestic tourism is based on business tourism (business trips to exhibitions, conferences), which accounts for up to 70% of the inbound flow. In Vladivostok, diplomatic tourism is also developed, as there are 18 foreign consulates in the city. There are 46 hotels in the city, with a total fund of 2561 rooms. The vast majority of the travel companies of Primorsky Krai (86%) are concentrated in Vladivostok, and their number was around 233 companies in 2011.


Transportation

The
Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...
was built to connect
European Russia European Russia is the western and most populated part of the Russia, Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia ...
with Vladivostok, Russia's most important
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
port. Finished in 1905, the rail line ran from Moscow to Vladivostok via several of Russia's main cities. Part of the railway, known as the Chinese Eastern Line, crossed over into China, passing through
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
, a major city in Manchuria. Today, Vladivostok serves as the main starting point for the Trans-Siberian portion of the
Eurasian Land Bridge The Eurasian Land Bridge (), sometimes called the New Silk Road (, ), is the rail transport route for moving freight and passengers overland between Pacific seaports in the Russian Far East and China and seaports in Europe. The route, a trans ...
.Vladivostok is the main air hub in the Russian Far East.
Vladivostok International Airport Vladivostok International Airport ( ''Mezhdunarodnyi aeroport Vladivostok'') is an international airport located near Artyom, Primorsky Krai, Russia, roughly an hour's drive () north of the center of the city of Vladivostok. It was formerly know ...
(VVO) is the home base of
Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
, a 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 ...
. The airline was formed by
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 ...
in 2013 by amalgamating
SAT Airlines OJSC "SAT Airlines — Sakhalinskie Aviatrassy" (), commonly known as SAT Airlines, was an airline based in Sakhalin, Russia. It provided scheduled regional air services in Russia's Far East and to destinations in China, South Korea and Japan. O ...
and
Vladivostok Avia JSC Vladivostok Air (also Vladivostok Avia; ) was an independent airline with its head office at the airport in Artyom, Primorski Krai, Russia. In 2011, it was reacquired by Aeroflot. Description As the largest carrier in the Russian Far Ea ...
. The
Vladivostok International Airport Vladivostok International Airport ( ''Mezhdunarodnyi aeroport Vladivostok'') is an international airport located near Artyom, Primorsky Krai, Russia, roughly an hour's drive () north of the center of the city of Vladivostok. It was formerly know ...
was significantly upgraded in 2013 with a new -long runway capable of accommodating all aircraft types without any restrictions. The ''Terminal A'' was built in 2012 with a capacity of 3.5 million passengers per year. International flights connect Vladivostok with Japan, China, Philippines, North Korea, South Korea and Vietnam. It is possible to get to Vladivostok from several of the larger cities in Russia. Regular flights to
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...
, were available in the 1990s but have been cancelled since. Vladivostok Air flew to
Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...
, from July 2008 until 2013, before being transformed into
Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
.Vladivostok is the starting point of Ussuri Highway (M60) to
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 ...
, the easternmost part of
Trans-Siberian Highway The Trans-Siberian Highway is the unofficial name for a network of federal highways that span the width of Russia from the Baltic Sea of the Atlantic Ocean to the Sea of Japan. In the Asian Highway Network, the route is known as AH6. It stretch ...
that goes all the way 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 ...
and
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
via
Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...
. The other main highways go east to
Nakhodka Nakhodka ( rus, Нахо́дка, p=nɐˈxotkə, means "''finding''") is a port city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located on the Trudny Peninsula jutting into the Nakhodka Bay of the Sea of Japan, about east of Vladivostok (169 kilometers by ...
and south to Khasan.


Urban transportation

On June 28, 1908, Vladivostok's first tram line was started along
Svetlanskaya Street Svetlanskaya Street () is a major street in Vladivostok, Russia. History Svetlanskaya Street was originally called Amerikanskaya Street after the corvette ''Amerika'', but was renamed in 1873 in honor of the frigate ''Svetlana'' which brought ...
, running from the railway station on Lugovaya Street. On October 9, 1912, the first wooden carriages manufactured in Belgium entered service. Today, Vladivostok's means of public transportation include trolleybus, bus,
tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
, train,
funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...
and ferryboat. The main urban traffic lines are Downtown—Vtoraya Rechka, Downtown—Pervaya Rechka—3ya Rabochaya—Balyayeva, and Downtown—Lugovaya Street. File:Cars of the Vladivostok funicular.jpg, Cars of the Vladivostok funicular File:Vladivostok bus.JPG, Buses in Vladivostok File:Vladivostok tram.JPG, Trams in Vladivostok File:Vladivostok trolleybus 245 2024-08 1724958372 Russkaya street ZiU-9.tif,
Trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
in Vladivostok
In 2012, Vladivostok hosted the 24th Summit of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy , economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Following the success of Association of Southeast Asia ...
(APEC) forum. In preparation for the event, the infrastructure of the city was renovated and improved. Two giant
cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...
s were constructed in Vladivostok, namely the Zolotoy Rog Bridge over Golden Horn Bay, and the
Russky Bridge The Russky Bridge () is a cable-stayed bridge in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia. The bridge connects the Russky Island and the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula sections of the city across the Eastern Bosphorus strait, and with a central span of ...
from the mainland to
Russky Island Russky Island () is an island in Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan, in Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is the largest island in the Eugénie Archipelago, separated from the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula immediately to the north by the Eastern ...
, where the summit took place. The latter bridge is the longest
cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...
in the world.


Education

There are 114 general education institutions in Vladivostok, with a total number of students of 50,700 people (in 2015). The municipal education system of the city consists of preschool organizations, primary, basic, secondary general education schools, lyceums, gymnasiums, schools with an in-depth study of individual subjects, and centers of additional education. The municipal educational network includes 2 gymnasiums, 2 lyceums, 13 schools with advanced study of individual subjects, one primary school, 2 basic schools, 58 secondary schools, four evening schools, and one boarding school. Three Vladivostok schools are included in the Top-500 schools of the Russian Federation. At the municipal level, there is a city system of school olympiads, a city scholarship has been established for outstanding achievements of students. In 2016, branches of the Academy of Russian Ballet and the Nakhimov Naval School were opened. Dozens of colleges, schools and universities provide vocational education in Vladivostok. The beginning of higher education was laid in the city with the founding of the Oriental Institute. At the moment, the largest university in Vladivostok is the Far Eastern Federal University. More than 41,000 students study in it, 5,000 employees work, including 1,598 teachers. It accounts for a large share (64%) of scientific publications among Far Eastern universities. Also, higher education in the city is represented by such local universities: *
Far Eastern Federal University Far Eastern Federal University (, ''Dalnevostochny federalny universitet'') is a public university in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia. In 2023 the university was ranked #434 by QS World University Rankings and among the 100 best universit ...
* Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service * Vladivostok State Medical University * Maritime State University * Far Eastern State Institute of Arts * Far Eastern State Technical Fisheries University * Pacific Higher Naval School and Pacific State Medical University * Branches of the Russian Customs Academy * The International Institute of Economics and Law * Far Eastern Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia * Saint Petersburg University of the State Fire Service of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia


Media

Over fifty
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
s and regional editions to Moscow publications are issued in Vladivostok. The largest newspaper of the
Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
and the whole
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 ...
is ''Vladivostok News'' with a circulation of 124,000 copies at the beginning of 1996. Its founder, joint-stock company Vladivostok-News, also issues a weekly English-language newspaper Vladivostok News. The subjects of the publications issued in these newspapers vary from information about Vladivostok and Primorye to major international events. Newspaper ''Zolotoy Rog'' (''Golden Horn'') gives every detail of economic news. Entertainment materials and cultural news constitute a larger part of Novosti (News) newspaper which is the most popular among Primorye's young people. Also, new online mass media about the Russian Far East for foreigners is the Far East Times. This source invites readers to take part in the informational support of R.F.E. for visitors, travellers and businessmen. Vladivostok operates many online news agencies, such as NewsVL.ru, Primamedia, Primorye24 and Vesti-Primorye. From 2012 to 2017 there operates youth online magazine Vladivostok-3000. there operate nineteen radio stations, including three 24-hour local stations. Radio VBC (FM 101,7 MHz, since 1993) broadcasts classic and modern rock music, oldies and music of the 1980s–1990s. Radio Lemma (FM 102,7 MHz, since 1996) broadcasts news, radio shows and various Russian and European-American songs. Vladivostok FM (FM 106,4 MHz, was launched in 2008) broadcasts local news and popular music (Top 40). The State broadcasting company "Vladivostok" broadcasts local news and music programs from 7 to 9, from 12 to 14 and from 18 to 19 on weekdays on the frequency of Radio Rossii (Radio of Russia).


Culture


Galleries and showrooms

The active development of art museums in Vladivostok began in the 1950s. In 1960, the House of Artists was built, in which there were exhibition halls. In 1965, the Primorsky State Art Gallery was separated into a separate institution, and later, on the basis of its collection, the Children's Art Gallery was created. In Soviet times, one of the largest areas for exhibitions in Vladivostok was the exhibition hall of the Primorsky branch of the Union of Artists of Soviet Russia. In 1989 the gallery of contemporary art "Artetage" was opened. In 1995, the Arka gallery of contemporary art was opened, the first exposition of which consisted of 100 paintings donated by the collector Alexander Glezer. The gallery participates in international exhibitions and fairs. In 2005, a non-commercial private gallery "Roytau" appeared. In recent years, the centers of contemporary art "Salt" (created on the basis of the FEFU art museum) and "Zarya", have been active.


Music, opera, and ballet

The city is home to the Vladivostok Pops Orchestra. Russian rock band
Mumiy Troll Mumiy Troll ( ) is a Russian rock group, founded in 1983 in Vladivostok by vocalist and songwriter Ilya Lagutenko (). The name is a pun on '' Mumintroll'', the children's books by Tove Jansson, translated into Russian as "Mummi Troll". Caree ...
hails from Vladivostok and frequently puts on shows there. In addition, the city hosted the " VladiROCKstok" International Music Festival in September 1996. Hosted by the mayor and governor, and organized by two young American expatriates, the festival drew nearly 10,000 people and top-tier musical acts from St. Petersburg ( Akvarium and
DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...
) and Seattle (
Supersuckers The Supersuckers (formerly known as The Black Supersuckers) are an American rock band, formed in 1988, whose music is influenced by both hard rock and country. AllMusic describes the band as "the bastard sons of Foghat, AC/DC, and ZZ Top after ...
, Goodness), as well as several leading local bands. Nowadays there is another annual music festival in Vladivostok, Vladivostok Rocks International Music Festival and Conference (V-ROX). Vladivostok Rocks is a three-day open-air city festival and international conference for the music industry and contemporary cultural management. It offers the opportunity for aspiring artists and producers to gain exposure to new audiences and leading international professionals. Musical theater in Vladivostok is represented by the Primorsky Regional Philharmonic Society, the largest concert organization in Primorsky Krai. The Philharmonic has organized the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and the Governor's Brass Orchestra. In 2013, the Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theater was opened. On January 1, 2016, it was transformed into a branch of the
Mariinsky Theater The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...
. The Russian Opera House houses the State Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theater.


Museums

The Vladimir K. Arseniev Museum of Far East History, opened in 1890, is the main museum of Primorsky Krai. Besides the main facility, it has three branches in Vladivostok itself (including
Arsenyev Arsenyev () is a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located about northeast of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 56,750. It was known as ''Semyonovka'' until 1952. History The hi ...
's Memorial House), and five branches elsewhere in the state. Among the items in the museum's collection are the famous 15th-century
Yongning Temple Stele The Yongning Temple Stele () is a stele erected by the Chinese Ming dynasty in 1413 with a trilingual inscription to commemorate the founding of the Yongning Temple (永寧寺) in the Nurgan outpost, near the mouth of the Amur River, by the eunu ...
s from the lower Amur.


Movie theaters

In 2014, 21 movie theaters operated in Vladivostok, and the total number of film screenings was 1,501,000. Most of the city's movie theaters – Ocean, Galaktika, Moscow (formerly called New Wave movie theater), Neptune 3D (formerly called Neptune and Borodino), Illusion, Vladivostok – are renovated movie theaters built in the Soviet years. Among them stands out "Ocean" with the largest (22 by 10 meters) screen in the Far East of the country, located in the city's downtown in the area of Sports Harbor. Together with the "Ussuri" movie theater, it is the venue for the annual international film festival "Pacific Meridians" (since 2002). Since December 2014 the IMAX 3D hall has been operating in the Ocean movie theater.


Theaters

Maxim Gorky Academic Theater, named after the Russian author
Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (;  – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...
, was founded in 1931 and is used for drama, musical and children's theater performances. There are five professional theaters in the city. In 2014, they were visited by 369,800 spectators. The Primorsky Regional Academic Drama Theater named after
Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (;  – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...
is the oldest state theater in Vladivostok, opened on November 3, 1932. The theater employs 202 people: 41 actors (of them, three folk and nine honored artists of Russia). The Primorsky Pushkin Theater was built in 1907–1908, and is currently one of the main cultural centers of the city. In the 1930s–40s, the following still operating ones were successively opened: the Drama Theater of the Pacific Fleet, the Primorsky Regional Puppet Theater, and the Primorsky Regional Drama Theater of Youth. The regional puppet theater gave 484 performances in 2015, which were attended by more than 52,000 spectators. There are 500 puppets in the theater, where 15 artists work. The troupe regularly goes on tour to Europe and Asia. In September 2012, a granite statue of the actor
Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical ''The King and I'' (19 ...
(1920–1985) was inaugurated in Yul Brynner Park, directly in front of the house where he was born at 15 Aleutskaya St.


Parks and squares

Parks and squares in Vladivostok include Pokrovskiy Park, Minnyy Gorodok, Detskiy Razvlekatelnyy Park, Park of Sergeya Lazo, Admiralskiy Skver, Skver im. Neveskogo, Nagornyy Park, Skver im. Sukhanova, Fantaziya Park, Skver Rybatskoy Slavy, Skver im. A.I.Shchetininoy.


Pokrovskiy Park

Pokrovskiy Park was once a cemetery. It was converted into a park in 1934 but was closed in 1990. Since 1990, the land the park sits on belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church. During the rebuilding of the Orthodox Church, graves were found.


Minny Gorodok

Minny Gorodok is a public park. Minny Gorodok means "Mine Borough Park" in English. The park is a former military base that was founded in 1880. The military base was used for storing mines in underground storage. Converted into a park in 1985, Minny Gorodok contains several lakes, ponds, and an ice-skating rink.


Detsky Razvlekatelny Park

Detsky Razvlekatelny Park is a children's amusement park located near Downtown Vladivostok. The park contains a carousel, gaming machines, a Ferris wheel, cafés, an aquarium, movie theater and a stadium.


Admiralsky Skver

Admiralsky Skver is a landmark located near Downtown Vladivostok. The Square is an open space, dominated by the Triumfalnaya Arka. South of the square sits a museum of
Soviet submarine S-56 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...
.


Sports

Vladivostok is home to the football club Dynamo Vladivostok, which plays in the
Russian Second Division The Russian Second League (), formerly the Russian Professional Football League, are both the third (Division A) and fourth level (Division B) of Russian professional Association football, football. History In 1998–2010, it was run by the :ru: ...
, ice hockey club
Admiral Vladivostok Hockey Club Admiral, also known as Admiral Vladivostok, () is a professional ice hockey club based in Vladivostok, Russia. It is a member of the Chernyshev Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Admiral play its home games at Fetisov ...
from the
Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...
's
Chernyshev Division The KHL's Chernyshev Division was formed in 2008 as part of the league's inauguration. It is one of 4 divisions and part of the Eastern conference since the second season of KHL when the conferences were established. It is named in honor of Arka ...
, and basketball club
Spartak Primorye BC Spartak Primorye () is a Russian professional basketball club that is based in Vladivostok, Russia. It currently plays in the Russian Super League 1. Notable players * Victor Keyru: (2006–07) * Nikolay Padius: (2008–09, 2012–13) * ...
, of the
Russian Basketball Super League The Russian Basketball Super League 1, or Super Liga 1, (), formerly known as the Russian Basketball Super League A or the Russian Basketball Super Liga A, is a men's professional basketball league that was the pre-eminent league of Russian profe ...
. Former
Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...
football club Luch Vladivostok used to be the main football team of the city until its bankruptcy in 2020. It is also home to the Vostok Vladivostok
motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...
club. Vladivostok annually hosts various contests. In 2022, the 35th Regatta boat for the Goblet of Peter the Great and the 19th Russian Championship of Conrad-25R yachts were held.


Pollution

Local ecologists from the ''Ecocenter'' organization have claimed that much of Vladivostok's suburbs are
polluted Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...
and that living in them can be classified as a
health hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...
. The pollution has a number of causes, according to ''Ecocenter'' geochemical expert Sergey Shlykov. Vladivostok has about eighty industrial sites, which may not be many compared to Russia's most industrialized areas, but those around the city are particularly environmentally unfriendly, such as
shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...
and repairing, power stations, printing,
fur farming Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur. Most of the world's farmed fur was produced by European farmers. In 2018, there were 5,000 fur farms in the EU, located across 22 countries; these area ...
, and
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
. In addition, Vladivostok has particularly vulnerable geography which compounds the effect of pollution. Winds cannot clear pollution from some of the most densely populated areas around the Pervaya and Vtoraya Rechka as they sit in basins which the winds blow over. In addition, there is little snow in winter and no leaves or grass to catch the dust to make it settle down.


Geography

The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about long and wide. The highest point in the city is
Mount Kholodilnik Kholodilnik Mountain ( or ; lit. "Mt. Refrigerator", formerly Mount Muravyov-Amursky), is a mountain in eastern Russia. It is located in Primorsky Krai, and is in the highest peak within the city of Vladivostok at 257.9 m. There are fortificat ...
, at . Eagle's Nest Hill is often called the highest point in the city, but with a height of , or according to other sources, it is only the highest point in the city center, not the whole city. Located in the extreme southeast of the Russian Far East, in the extreme southeast of
North Asia North Asia or Northern Asia () is the northern region of Asia, which is defined in geography, geographical terms and consists of three federal districts of Russia: Ural Federal District, Ural, Siberian Federal District, Siberian, and the Far E ...
, Vladivostok is geographically closer to
Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...
, US and even
Darwin, Australia Darwin (Laragiya language, Larrakia: ') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 Australian census, ...
than it is to the nation's capital of
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 ...
. Vladivostok is also closer to
Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
, US than to the city of
Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from  – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...
in
Southern Russia Southern Russia or the South of Russia ( rus, Юг России, p=juk rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a Colloquialism, colloquial term for the southernmost geographic portion of European Russia. The term is generally used to refer to the region of Russia's So ...
. It also is further east than any area south of it in China and the entire Korean peninsula.


Climate

Vladivostok has a monsoon-influenced
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''Dwb'',
Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC), or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC), is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köp ...
''Dcbc'') with warm, humid and rainy summers and cold, dry winters. Owing to the influence of 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 ...
, winters are much colder than a latitude of 43 degrees should warrant, given its low elevation and coastal location, with a January average of . Winter temperatures are somewhat colder than
Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
and far colder than
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
; all 3 locations are at or above 43 degrees north latitude. They are even colder than those of
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 ...
and
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, interior locations at 55 and 44 degrees north, respectively. Since the maritime influence is strong in summer, Vladivostok has a relatively cold annual climate for its latitude. In winter, temperatures can drop below while mild spells of weather can raise daytime temperatures above freezing. The average monthly precipitation, mainly in the form of snow, is around from December to March. Snow is common during winter, but individual snowfalls are light, with a maximum snow depth of only in January. During winter, clear sunny days are common. Summers are warm, humid and rainy, due to the East Asian
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
. The warmest month is August, with an average temperature of . Vladivostok receives most of its
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...
during the summer months, and most summer days see some rainfall. Cloudy days are fairly common and because of the frequent rainfall, humidity is high, on average about 90% from June to August. During the summer season, the city is prone to
typhoons A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...
and
tropical storms A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
.
Typhoon Sanba Typhoon Sanba, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Karen, was the strongest tropical cyclone Tropical cyclones in 2012, worldwide in 2012. The sixteenth tropical cyclone naming, named storm and tenth typhoon of the 2012 Pacific typhoon seas ...
struck the city as a tropical storm in 2012. In
Artyom Artyom (also Artiom) () is a male given name common in Russia and other Slavic languages, Slavic-speaking countries. The name uses the "ё" letter, which can be transcribed to English as "e" but still has the "yo" sound. The Belarusian language, ...
, near Vladivostok, more than of crops were inundated. Preliminary losses over the region were estimated to be
The ruble sign, , is the currency sign used for the Russian ruble, the official currency of Russia. Its form is a Cyrillic letter Р with an additional horizontal stroke. The design was approved on 11 December 2013 after a public poll that too ...
40 million (US$1.29 million). Typhoons can be rare, but tropical storms happen from the
Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...
after a typhoon landfall from
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 ...
and
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 ...
. On average, Vladivostok receives of precipitation per year, but the driest year was 1943, when of precipitation fell, and the wettest was 1974, with of precipitation. The winter months from December to March are dry, and in some years they have seen no measurable precipitation at all. Extremes range from in January 1931 to in July 1939.


Twin towns – sister cities

Vladivostok is twinned with: * Akita, Japan * Busan, South Korea *
Dalian Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...
, China * Hakodate, Japan *
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
, China * Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam * Incheon, South Korea * Juneau, Alaska, Juneau, United States * Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia * Manta, Ecuador, Manta, Ecuador * Niigata (city), Niigata, Japan * Pohang, South Korea * San Diego, United States * Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma, United States * Tskhinvali, South Ossetia *
Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...
, Russia * Wonsan, North Korea * Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Yanbian, China In 2010, arches with the names of each of Vladivostok's twin towns were placed in a park within the city. From Vladivostok ferry port next to the train station, a ferry of the DBS Cruise Ferry travels regularly to Donghae City, Donghae, South Korea and from there to Sakaiminato on the Japanese main island of Honshu.


Notable people

* Alexandra Biriukova (1895–1967), architect * Alexei Volkonski (born 1978), canoeist * Anna Shchetinina (1908–1999), captain * Chŏng Sangjin (1918–2013), Korean freedom fighter * Diana Ankudinova (born May 31, 2003), singer * Elmar Lohk (1901–1963), architect * Eugene Kozlovsky (1946–2023), writer * Feliks Gromov (1937–2021), admiral * Igor Ansoff (1918–2002), mathematician * Igor Kunitsyn (born 1981), tennis player * Igor Tamm (1895–1971), physicist * Ilya Lagutenko (born 1968), singer * Ivan Vasiliev (born 1989), ballet dancer * Koryo-saram poet and Soviet soldier * Kristina Rihanoff (born 1977), dancer * Ksenia Kahnovich (born 1987), model * Lev Knyazev (1924–2012), writer * Liah Greenfeld (born 1954), academic * Lilia Akhaimova (born 1997), gymnast * Mary Losseff (1907–1972), singer, film actor * Mikhail Koklyaev (born 1978), strongman * Natalia Pogonina (born 1985), chess player * Nikolay Dubinin (1907–1998), biologist * Paul Portnyagin (1903–1977), Greek-Catholic priest, teacher and orientalist * Peter A. Boodberg (1903–1972), scholar, linguist * Stanislav Petrov (1939–2017), soldier, averted nuclear war * Svoy (born 1980), musician * Swathi Reddy (born 1987), Indian actress * Victor Zotov (1908–1977), botanist * Vitali Kravtsov (born 1999), ice hockey forward * Vladimir Arsenyev (1872–1930), explorer * Vladimir Ossipoff (1907–1998), architect * Wes Hurley (born 1981), filmmaker * Yi Dong-hwi (1873–1935), Korean communist *
Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical ''The King and I'' (19 ...
(1920–1985), film actor


See also

* 32nd Rifle Division (Soviet Union) * List of ports and harbors of the Pacific Ocean, List of North Asian ports


Notes


References


Further reading

* * *Edith Margaret Faulstich, Faulstich, Edith. M. "The Siberian Sojourn" Yonkers, N.Y. (1972–1977) * * Poznyak, Tatyana Z. 2004. Foreign Citizens in the Cities of the Russian Far East (the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries). Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 2004. 316 p. (). * Stephan, John. 1994. The Far East a History. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994. 481 p. * Trofimov, Vladimir et al., 1992, ''Old Vladivostok''. Utro Rossii Vladivostok,


External links


Official website of Vladivostok

Historical Map of Vladivostok (1912)
Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas, Austin. * {{Authority control Vladivostok, Cities and towns in Primorsky Krai Ports and harbours of the Russian Pacific Coast Port cities and towns in Russia Populated coastal places in Russia Manchuria Russian Far East Pacific Coast of Russia Russian and Soviet Navy bases Primorskaya Oblast Populated places established in 1860 1860 establishments in Asia 1860 establishments in the Russian Empire