Snake Island – a Short History and Its Legal Status over the Years

Abstract

Snake Island is a small, uninhabited, and remote island located in the Black Sea, not far from Ukraine and Romania common border on Danube River. Over the years, this small island played a noteworthy role in controlling the Danube mouths and its important role can be noticed significantly increased these days. Taking into consideration the present invasion of Ukraine by Russia, an interdisciplinary study, both historical and juridical, is more than welcome to observe why this tiny island was so beloved by different actors over the time and nowadays also plays a significant role. From juridical perspective this sui generis island plays a large role to determine maritime delimitation. The last dispute in which this island was involved concerned the maritime delimitation between Ukraine and Romania, and the particularities of the island determined the countries right over maritime zone (EEZ).