A TINY remote island that sits just two miles between the US and Russia allows residents to bring in the new year a day before it arrives. Alaska's Little Diomede Island lies just 2.4 miles from Big Diomede, which is the easternmost point of Russia. Stranger still, because of where the international dateline falls, Big Diomede is a whole 21 hours ahead of Little Diomede despite being so close.
![[Russia is under three miles from the US' doorstep despite decades of tensions, and travel between the two islands is forbidden]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/89417e9d-1348-4d2c-ae98-900b4380ad31.jpg?strip=all&w=854)
This allows the tiny island of Little Diomede - which is home to less roughly 77 residents and mostly lacks running water - to see the New Year nearly a day before the rest of the world. The tiny location is just 2.8 square miles in size, and can be found in the middle of the Bering Strait 16 miles off the Alaskan coast.
![[There are around 30 buildings on the island, mostly built in the 1970s and 80s]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2ccnrdn-inupiat-native-diomede-city-960736721.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Little Diomede has no hotels or cafes, and only has one public school and one post office. There's no bank or restaurant, and the main shop has only limited food, clothing, firearms, and fuel - meaning anything else must be flown in. There are around 30 buildings on the island, mostly built in the 1970s and 80s.
![[Although the islands are separated by only 2.4 miles, there is a 21-hour time difference]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/diomede-islands-bering-strait-separated-763023522.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
But the vast rocky landscape means there are no cemeteries, buried utilities, no roads and barely any space for more buildings. The weekly mail delivery is made by helicopter and most supplies stocked in the store come from a barge delivery just once a year.
