<P> The region directly east of the West Siberian Plain is the Central Siberian Plateau, which extends eastward from the Yenisei River valley to the Lena River valley . The region is divided into several plateaus, with elevations ranging between 320 and 740 meters; the highest elevation is about 1,800 meters, in the northern Putoran Mountains . The plain is bounded on the south by the Baikal Mountains system and on the north by the North Siberian Lowland, an extension of the West Siberian Plain extending into the Taymyr Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean . </P> <P> In the mountain system west of Lake Baikal in south - central Siberia, the highest elevations are 3,300 meters in the Western Sayan, 3,200 meters in the Eastern Sayan, and 4,500 meters at Belukha Mountain in the Altay Mountains . The Eastern Sayan reach nearly to the southern shore of Lake Baikal; at the lake, there is an elevation difference of more than 4,500 meters between the nearest mountain, 2,840 meters high, and the deepest part of the lake, which is 1,700 meters below sea level . The mountain systems east of Lake Baikal are lower, forming a complex of minor ranges and valleys that reaches from the lake to the Pacific coast . The maximum height of the Stanovoy Range, which runs west to east from northern Lake Baikal to the Sea of Okhotsk, is 2,550 meters . To the south of that range is southeastern Siberia, whose mountains reach 800 meters . Across the Strait of Tartary from that region is Sakhalin Island, Russia's largest island, where the highest elevation is about 1,700 meters . The small Moneron Island, the site of the shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, is found to its west . </P> <P> Truly alpine terrain appears in the southern mountain ranges . Between the Black and Caspian seas, the Caucasus Mountains rise to impressive heights, forming a boundary between Europe and Asia . One of the peaks, Mount Elbrus, is the highest point in Europe, at 5,642 meters . The geological structure of the Caucasus extends to the northwest as the Crimean and Carpathian Mountains and southeastward into Central Asia as the Tian Shan and Pamirs . The Caucasus Mountains create an imposing natural barrier between Russia and its neighbors to the southwest, Georgia and Azerbaijan . </P> <P> Northeastern Siberia, north of the Stanovoy Range, is an extremely mountainous region . The long Kamchatka Peninsula, which juts southward into the Sea of Okhotsk, includes many volcanic peaks, some of which are still active . The highest is the 4,750 - meter Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the highest point in the Russian Far East . The volcanic chain continues from the southern tip of Kamchatka southward through the Kuril Islands chain and into Japan . Kamchatka also is one of Russia's two centers of seismic activity (the other is the Caucasus). In 1995, a major earthquake largely destroyed the oil - processing town of Neftegorsk . Also located in this region is the very large Beyenchime - Salaatin crater . </P>

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