Sakhalin Oblast (Russian: Сахали́нская о́бласть, tr. Sakhalinskaya oblast', IPA: [səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ]) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Russian Far East. The oblast has an area of 87,100 square kilometers (33,600 sq mi). Its administrative center and largest city is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. As of the 2021 Census, the oblast has a population of roughly 500,000.^[9]

Quick Facts Country, Federal district ...

Sakhalin Oblast
Oblast
Сахалинская область
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 50°33′N 142°36′E
Country	Russia
Federal district	Far Eastern[1]
Economic region	Far Eastern[2]
Administrative center	Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Government
• Body	Oblast Duma
• Governor	Valery Limarenko[3]
Area [4]
• Total	87,101 km2 (33,630 sq mi)
• Rank	37th
Population  (2021 Census)[5]
• Total	466,609
• Estimate  (2018)[6]	490,181
• Rank	75th
• Density	5.4/km2 (14/sq mi)
• Urban	82.4%
• Rural	17.6%
Time zone	UTC+11 (MSK+8 [7])
ISO 3166 code	RU-SAK
License plates	65
OKTMO ID	64000000
Official languages	Russian[8]
Website	www.adm.sakhalin.ru

Close

The vast majority of the oblast's residents are ethnic Russians, with a small minority of Sakhalin Koreans. Sakhalin Oblast is rich in natural gas and oil, and is Russia's fourth wealthiest federal subject and wealthiest oblast.^[10] It borders by sea Khabarovsk Krai to the west and Kamchatka Krai to the north, along with Hokkaido, Japan to the south.

The etymology of Sakhalin can be traced back to the Manchu hydronym Sahaliyan Ula (Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ
ᡠᠯᠠ) for "Black River" (i.e. the Amur River). Sakhalin shares this etymology with the Chinese province of Heilongjiang (Chinese for "black dragon river (Chinese: 黑龙江, Hēilóngjiāng)").

The indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Nivkhs, Oroks, and Ainu minorities.

The first Europeans to explore the waters around Sakhalin Island were Ivan Moskvitin and Martin Gerritz de Vries in the mid-1600s, Jean-François de La Pérouse in 1787 and Adam Johann von Krusenstern in 1805. Early maps of Sakhalin reflect the uncertainty of the age as to whether or not the land mass was attached to the Asian continent. The fact that it is not connected was conclusively established by Mamiya Rinzō, who explored and mapped Sakhalin in 1809 and definitively recorded by Russian navigator Gennady Nevelskoy in 1849.

Japanese settlement on Sakhalin dates to at least the Edo period. Ōtomari was supposedly established in 1679, and cartographers of the Matsumae domain mapped the island, and named it "Kita-Ezo". During the Ming and Qing dynasties China considered the island part of its empire, and included the Sakhalin peoples in its "system for subjugated peoples". At no time though was any attempt ever made to establish an Imperial military presence on the island. Japan, concerned about Russian expansion in northeast Asia, unilaterally proclaimed sovereignty over the whole island in 1845. Russian settlers ignored the claim (and the similar claim of China), however, and, beginning in the 1850s, established coal mines, administration facilities, schools, prisons and churches on the island.

In 1855, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Shimoda, which declared that both nationals could inhabit the island: Russians in the north, and Japanese in the south, without a clear boundary between. Russia also agreed to dismantle its military base at Ōtomari. Following the Second Opium War, Russia forced the Qing to sign the Treaty of Aigun and Convention of Peking, under which China lost all territories north of Heilongjiang (Amur) and east of Ussuri, including Sakhalin, to Russia. A Czarist penal colony was established in 1857, but the southern part of the island was held by the Japanese until the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg, when they ceded it to Russia in exchange for the Kuril islands. After the Russo-Japanese War, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905, which resulted in the southern part of the island below 50° N passing to Japan; the Russians retained the other three-fifths of the area. South Sakhalin was administered by Japan as Karafuto-chō (樺太庁), with the capital Toyohara, now known as Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

After the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war northern Sakhalin ultimately became governed by the Russian SFSR as a part of Far Eastern Oblast (1922–1926), Far Eastern Krai (1926–1938) and Khabarovsk Krai (included Russian-administered territories of Sakhalin in 1938–1947). Sakhalin Oblast was established on 20 October 1932 as a part of Far Eastern Krai, and became part of Khabarovsk Krai upon the latter foundation in 1938.

In August 1945, the Soviet Union took over the control of the entire Sakhalin and Kuril Islands. The Soviet attack on South Sakhalin started on August 11, 1945, about a month before the Surrender of Japan in World War II. The 56th Rifle Corps consisting of the 79th Rifle Division, the 2nd Rifle Brigade, the 5th Rifle Brigade and the 214th Tank Brigade attacked the Japanese 88th Division. Although the Red Army outnumbered the Japanese by three times, they could not advance due to strong Japanese resistance. It was not until the 113th Rifle Brigade and the 365th Independent Naval Infantry Rifle Battalion from Sovietskaya Gavan (Советская Гавань) landed on Tōrō (塔路), a seashore village of western Sakhalin on August 16 that the Soviets broke the Japanese defense line. Japanese resistance grew weaker after this landing. Actual fighting continued until August 21. However, this was relatively limited in scope. From August 22 to August 23, most of the remaining Japanese units announced truce. The Soviets completed the conquest of Sakhalin on August 25, 1945, by occupying the capital of Sakhalin, then known as Toyohara. Japanese sources claim that 20,000 civilians were killed during the invasion.

The governor Alexander Khoroshavin was appointed on August 9, 2007.^{[citation needed]} He was succeeded by Oleg Kozhemyako on March 25, 2015, in 2018 he was replaced by Valery Limarenko.

Due to restrictions, the entire Sakhalin Oblast and its internal and territorial waters except for Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk are considered to be a border zone, which means that the freedom of movement for foreigners is dramatically restricted and any movement outside of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk requires registration to the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Border Guard. Scuba diving and recreation on the seacoast is permitted only in places defined by the Border Guard.^[19]

Population: 466,609 (2021 Census);^[20] 497,973 (2010 Russian census);^[21] 546,695 (2002 Census);^[22] 709,629 (1989 Soviet census).^[23]

Vital statistics for 2022:^[24][25]

• Births: 4,972 (10.3 per 1,000)
• Deaths: 6,444 (13.3 per 1,000)

Total fertility rate (2022):^[26]
1.81 children per woman

Life expectancy (2021):^[27]
Total — 68.42 years (male — 63.72, female — 73.41)

Ethnic groups:^[9] 394,794 ethnic Russians are the largest group, followed by 16,060 Koreans (see Sakhalin Koreans), 3,634 Ukrainians and a host of less numerous ethnic groups, including 93 Japanese and Ainu (0.02%), who were native to the region and opposed the Soviet acquisition of the territory following World War II. The ethnic composition of the oblast in 2021 by percentages was as follows:

• Russians: 91.2%
• Koreans (Sakhalin Koreans): 3.7%
• Ukrainians: 0.8%
• Tatars: 0.5%
• Belarusians: 0.2%
• Japanese or Ainu: 0.02%
• 33,733 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.^[28]