Unknown to the world, Russia has expanded its territory recently. Some 4.5 square kilometers of land have been conquered from the sea in the Far East – with a little help from earthquakes and volcanoes.

The country should thank two seismic events for getting a bit bigger, reports Boris Levin, head of the Institute for Sea Geology and Geophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

On August 2, 2007, a powerful earthquake near the city of Nevelsk in the Far Eastern Sakhalin Peninsula raised about three square kilometers of seabed above the sea surface. The event was registered to have a magnitude of 6.8 and unfortunately resulted in two deaths.

And in June 2009, an eruption of the Sarychev Peak volcano at the Matua Island added 1.5 square kilometers to Russian territory. The event lasted for a week and had record-high ash plumes, which rose up to 12 kilometers.

The scientists used GPS trackers placed on the island to monitor the event. The volcano has changed its shape and drifted closer towards the Russian mainland, they say.

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“We received the first-ever data on movements of volcano surface. It moved 40 mm over four days. It is a very high speed,” Levin said as cited by Interfax news agency.

Now the Sarychev Peak is still active, and scientists believe a new eruption is possible soon.

Interestingly, the drift towards Russia is typical for the whole Kuril Archipelago, which Matua Island is part of. All the disputed islands get closer to Sakhalin Peninsula by about 18 mm a year on average, the scientists said.

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