Editing Franz Josef Land (section)

===The Soviet Union===
Soviet expeditions were sent almost yearly from 1923.<ref name=b134 /> Franz Josef Land had been considered ''[[terra nullius]]'' – land belonging to no one – but on 15 April 1926 the Soviet Union declared its [[annexation]] of the archipelago. Emulating Canada's declaration of the [[sector principle]], they pronounced all land between the Soviet mainland and the North Pole to be Soviet territory. This principle has never been internationally recognized.<ref name=b95>Barr (1995): 95</ref> Both Italy and Norway protested.<ref name=b134 /> Norway was first and foremost concerned about its economic interests in the area, in a period when Norwegian hunters and whalers were also being barred from the [[White Sea]], Novaya Zemlya and Greenland; the Soviet government, however, largely remained passive, and did not evict Norwegian hunting ships during the following years. Nor did the Soviets interfere when, in 1928, several foreign ships entered the waters in search of the vanished [[airship]] ''[[Airship Italia|Italia]]''.<ref name=b95 />

Norway attempted both a diplomatic solution and a [[Lars Christensen]]-financed expedition to establish a weather station to gain economic control over the islands, but both failed in 1929.<ref name=b96>Barr (1995): 96</ref> Instead the Soviet icebreaker ''[[Sedov (icebreaker)|Sedov]]'' set out, led by [[Otto Schmidt]], landed in [[Hooker Island|Tikhaya Bay]], and began construction of a permanent base.<ref>Barr (1995): 136</ref> The Soviet government proposed renaming the archipelago Fridtjof Nansen Land in 1930, but the name never came into use.<ref name=b96 /> In 1930 the Norwegian [[Bratvaag Expedition]] visited the archipelago, but was asked by Soviet authorities  to respect Soviet territorial water in the future. Other expeditions that year were the Norwegian-Swedish balloon expedition led by [[Hans Wilhelmsson Ahlmann]] on ''Quest'' and the German airship ''[[LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin|Graf Zeppelin]]''.<ref>Barr (1995): 98</ref> Except for a [[Schatzgräber (weather station)|German weather station]] emplaced during the [[Second World War]], these were the last Western expeditions to Franz Josef Land until 1990.<ref name=b100>Barr (1995): 100</ref>

Soviet activities grew rapidly following the [[International Polar Year]] in 1932. The archipelago was circumnavigated, people landed on Victoria Island, and a [[topographical map]] was completed. In 1934–35 geological and glaciological expeditions were carried out, cartographic flights were flown, and up to sixty people stayed the winters between 1934 and 1936, which also saw the first birth. The first [[drifting ice station]] was set up out of Rudolf Island in 1936.<ref name=b138>Barr (1995): 138</ref> An [[airstrip]] was then constructed on a glacier on the island, and by 1937 the winter population hit 300.<ref>Barr (1995): 139</ref>

Activity dwindled during the [[Second World War]] and only a small group of men were kept at Rudolf Island, remaining unsupplied throughout the war.<ref name="b141"/> They never discovered Nazi Germany's establishment of a weather station, named [[Schatzgräber (weather station)|Schatzgräber]], on [[Alexandra Land]] as part of the [[North Atlantic weather war]]. The German station was evacuated in 1944 after the men were struck by [[trichinosis]] from eating [[polar bear]] meat.<ref>Barr (1995): 101</ref> Apparent physical evidence of the base was discovered in 2016.<ref>[https://www.sciencealert.com/russian-scientists-say-they-ve-discovered-a-secret-nazi-base-in-the-arctic Russian Scientists Say They've Discovered a Secret Nazi Base in The Arctic]</ref>

The [[Cold War]] produced renewed Soviet interest in the islands because of their strategic military significance. The islands were regarded as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier". The site of the former German weather station was selected as the location of a Soviet aerodrome and military base, [[Nagurskoye]]. With the advent of [[intercontinental ballistic missiles]], the Soviet Union changed its military strategy in 1956, abolishing the strategic need for an airbase on the archipelago. The [[International Geophysical Year]] of 1957 and 1958 gave a new rise to the scientific interest in the archipelago and an airstrip was built on Heiss Island in 1956. The following year the geophysical [[Ernst Krenkel Observatory]] was established there.<ref name=b141>Barr (1995): 141</ref> Activity at Tikhaya Bay was closed in 1959.<ref>Barr (1995): 142</ref>

Because of the islands' military significance, the Soviet Union closed off the area to foreign researchers, although Soviet researchers carried out various expeditions, including in geophysics, studies of the [[ionosphere]], marine biology, botany, ornithology, and glaciology.<ref name=b144>Barr (1995): 144</ref> The Soviet Union opened up the archipelago for international activities from 1990, with foreigners having fairly straightforward access.<ref name=":1">Barr (1995): 104</ref>