Russia does not have many natural harbors, and it can be counted as a handful. The port of Murmansk, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and others are more familiar.
During the period of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, there was also Sevastopol, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia lost it. In fact, in the Far East of Russia, near Vladivostok, there are some natural harbors.
These natural harbors are located in the Hassan district of Russia, and the typical example of this is the port of Zarubino. The port is ice-free all year round and can be used without icebreakers in winter, making it a natural harbor.
However, Vladivostok still has a 4-month ice period every year, so it seems that the port of Zarubino should be more advantageous than Vladivostok. Why did Russia choose Vladivostok instead of the port of Zarubino when choosing a naval base in the Pacific?
The port of Zarubino is too close to both China and North Korea
The port of Zarubino is located in the Hassan district of Primorsky Krai, which is all too familiar to us. Because it is close to the Hunchun area of Jilin Province, China, it is about 50 kilometers away from Hunchun.
Hunchun is not only bordered by the Hassan district of Russia, but also next to North Korea, separated by the Tumen River. Therefore, the port of Zarubino is actually only about 50 kilometers away from North Korea.
It's so close that it doesn't take you more than 1 hour to drive on a highway. If Russia puts the base of the Pacific Navy here, it will be too risky.
Russia is a large northern country, and since most of the area is in the middle and high latitudes, most of Russia's coastal areas do not have ice-free ports.
Especially in the Far East, although Russia has a long coastline in the East, the average annual ice cover of this coastline is about 4 to 8 months. Vladivostok, which freezes for 4 months every year, is actually in good condition.
When the Pacific naval base was chosen, Tsarist Russia also underwent a series of adjustments. From the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, to Kamchatka, to Sakhalin, and finally Vladivostok.
In 1897, the Russians had also occupied Lushun and asked the Qing government to lease it to themselves, so that their Far Eastern Fleet could be transferred here as a base. But after 1905, Tsarist Russia lost the Russo-Japanese War and lost this place, so it had to move the base of the Far Eastern Fleet back to Vladivostok.
In 1945, after defeating Japan, the Soviet Union captured Lushun again, so the Soviet Union drove their Pacific Fleet to Lushun and did not return it to us until 1955. And their Pacific Navy, naturally, returned to Vladivostok.
Relatively speaking, Vladivostok is relatively safe, and the port of Zarubino is too close to China and North Korea, and it is good that many parties are safe, once there is a suspicion, the naval base is very important, and it is estimated that the locals have to worry about it every day, which is completely unnecessary.
Like the relationship between Lushun and Dalian, the port of Zarubino is mainly for international trade
In 1897, Tsarist Russia leased Lushun from the Qing Dynasty and Dalian as well. At that time, Dalian was called Qingniwa, and the Russians gave it the name Dalini.
At that time, the Russians turned Lushun into their naval base in the Far East, and Dalian into an international trading port. That is, one is in charge of the military, and the other is in charge of earning money.
In fact, if the trading port is not connected with the mainland of Tsarist Russia, then the significance of this trading port is not too great. After all, it is quite troublesome to transport goods. Therefore, in 1900, Tsarist Russia invaded the Northeast in a vain attempt to turn all of Northeast China into Russian territory.
The relationship between Vladivostok and the port of Zarubino is actually equivalent to the relationship between Arthur and Dalian. The focus of Vladivostok's work is still on the military side, and the trade in goods can only be regarded as a subsidiary project.
The port of Zarubino, on the other hand, is a pure international trade port. Although the current annual throughput is only seven or eight times that of Vladivostok, as a newly built port, this is already quite good.
Zarubino Port, with an annual throughput of about 1.2 million tons, can dock 10,000-ton giant ships, and has roads and railways to the Russian hinterland and China, so there is no need to worry about transportation.
In addition, due to its proximity to Jilin, China, many specialties from the Northeast region can be reached all over the world through this port. Especially for countries that reach the Sea of Japan.
Relatively speaking, Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province, including parts of Inner Mongolia, have a shorter distance to transport products to Zarubino Port than to Dalian. Therefore, from the cost point of view, these places are more inclined to send products here to the sea.
According to the current trend, Russia is hoping to make the port of Zarubino another Dalian, so as to reduce the pressure on Vladivostok's own trade. With the continuous expansion of the port, Vladivostok should take on purely military tasks in the future, while the port of Zarubino will be fully capable of international trade.
Vladivostok is strategically located
After Tsarist Russia occupied the Outer Northeast in 1860, why did Vladivostok establish Vladivostok as a naval base? In fact, they could see at a glance that this place has a unique strategic location.
To the south of Vladivostok, there is an island of Russia, which is simply a natural barrier to Vladivostok. If an enemy from the sea wants to attack Vladivostok, it must first land on the island of Russia.
Vladivostok is surrounded by the sea on three sides, the Ussuri Bay to the east, the Amur Bay to the west, and the Great Peter Bay to the south. Surrounded by the sea on three sides, and connected to the interior of Russia on one side, it is built on a mountain, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there is an island as a natural cover. If this place is not a naval base, it is really blind.
I can imagine that when the Russians first came here, they must have been thrilled when they stood on the hill and looked down on the ocean. They must have felt that the Chinese would only catch sea cucumbers here in the past, and they were really blind. It was simply the most ideal naval port they found in the Far East for the Russia Empire.
Comparatively speaking, although the port of Zarubino does not freeze all year round, the terrain is not as good as Vladivostok, and the geographical location is not suitable as a naval port in the Far East, so they chose Vladivostok at the beginning, but they still considered it.
Hassan District blocked Jilin's estuary to the sea
The time for Russia to develop the Hassan area is relatively short, and during the period of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, this area was basically deserted there, and no one paid attention to its development.
Even though there are many natural ice-free ports here, they have not been developed for a long time due to special reasons. The reason why it is not developed is because it is too close to China and North Korea.
In fact, this area directly blocks Jilin's access to the sea. It wasn't until after the turn of the millennium that Russia remembered to work with us to develop and utilize the port here, so it was very late to start here.
Relatively speaking, the role of this place is not very big for Russia, but for us, it is very important. At least it can save some travel expenses for most of the commodities in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Inner Mongolia, and also add an additional channel for export.
Hassan District is just over 4,300 square kilometres, but the coastline is 276 kilometres long. If it is handed over to us for development, it will definitely become another economic center in Northeast China no less than Dalian.
However, history can only be recalled, but it is not cherished back then. After this area was included in Russia, Jilin's access to the sea was completely gone. If you want to make good use of this place, you can only negotiate with Russia.