Akademik

   An archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, Novaya Zemlya (“New Land”) separates the Barents and Kara seas. The island chain, which covers an area of 90,000 square kilometers, is administered by Archangel Oblast. The two main islands—Severny (Northern) and Yuzhny (Southern)—are separated by the narrow Matochkin Strait, the site of dozens of underground nuclear tests during the Soviet period and, more recently, subcritical nuclear experiments. This, combined with the Rogachevo Air Base on Yuzhny, made the area militarily sensitive during the Cold War. Novaya Zemlya has a population of about 2,500, including a small community of indigenous Nenets. The area featured prominently in Aleksandr Melnik’s science-fiction film Terra Nova (2008), which portrayed a dystopian penal colony where prisoners administered themselves, leading to such atrocities as cannibalism; the film was not shown in many foreign countries, including Great Britain, due to its controversial content.