JUST 2.4 miles from Russia is the most remote city in America where only 77 people live.
Covering less than three square miles, Little Diomede is perched in the middle of the Bering Strait off the coast of Alaska – separated from Russia’s Big Diomede Island by a stretch of stormy sea.
As tensions rise between Russia and the United States amid the war raging in Ukraine, some Americans can literally see Russia from the windows of their homes.
And although the two islands are only 2.4 miles apart, there is a time difference of 23 hours.
For more than 3,000 years, Iñupiat communities navigated the dangerous arctic conditions on Little Diomede, spending their days gathering supplies and hunting whales, walruses, polar bears and seals.
Summer temperatures only reach 10°C, while the mercury can dip to -14°C in winter, meaning the Bering Strait is usually frozen between December and June.
Living on rocks surrounded by sea ice just south of the Arctic Circle, the locals also face a barrage of 90mph winds.
During the winter months, the community participates in the annual “Polar Bear Watch” to protect everyone from attack.
There are around 30 buildings – including a school, library and helipad – on the island, mostly built in the 1970s and 1980s.
But the vast rocky landscape means there are no cemeteries, buried utilities, no roads and barely any space for other buildings.
There’s no bank or restaurant, and the main store has little food, clothing, guns, and fuel – meaning everything else has to be airlifted.
Weekly mail delivery is by helicopter and most of the supplies stored in the store come from a barge which is flown in only once a year.
The cost of living is exorbitant, with a bottle of laundry detergent in the island shop costing residents nearly £40, reports National Geographic.
Although Little Diomede is one of the most remote places on earth, the only school on the island turns on its WiFi for a few hours every afternoon and the kids flock to pick up the only signal in town.
With no roads, locals get around on foot – and there are no hotels, so visitors must stay with one of the locals.
Edward Soolook, a longtime resident of Little Diomede, said life on the island had not changed dramatically since Russia invaded Ukraine.
He told Insider: “We are safe as long as we sleep well at night. We keep the eyes and ears.
“We are the back door of the country – or rather the front door.”
Little Diomede has been part of Alaska since 1867 after the United States bought the island from Russia for a price of £6.2million, according to the Library of Congress.
LONE ISLAND
Years ago, the Russian and American communities on the two islands were deeply connected.
In winter, an ice bridge formed between the islands, allowing the inhabitants to roam freely.
Young and old Diomedes married, shared traditions and their cultures merged into one.
But the Cold War forever changed relations between the two islands.
In 1948, Russia expelled Big Diomede’s indigenous population and made it a military base, and most residents fled to Little Diomede or Siberia.
But the decision to build a military base severed the close bond between the two settlements – and Russians have rarely set foot on Little Diomede since.
Mother nature makes Little Diomede a hard place to reach – when there is no ice bridge to use, visitors can only get there by air.
Those wishing to visit the island must fly from Russia to Nome and then the Alaskan coastal town of Wales by plane.
From there, they head to the island via helicopter – the only real connection to the mainland and how supplies get to the community.
This means the island and its people are hugely dependent on the weather – bad weather means the helicopter can’t land and ships can’t dock.
Bering Air stopped flying to Little Diomede after a storm shattered the frozen airstrip in 2018.
