The Federal Republic of Lostisland is a global sovereignty and a cultural and social project resembling a new country based on the ideals of freedom and democracy. Being originally created in 2008 as a roleplay game, Lostisland since then turned into a multinational project with a total of over 300 participants (“citizens”) from countries such as Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and many others, and with four languages, such as English, Dutch, Turkish, Russian having official status. Nowadays, amongst “citizens” of Lostisland can be found art workers, lawyers, IT specialists, journalists, and people of many other qualifications who devote their skills to the successful growth and development of the organization.
As part of emulating a nation state, Lostisland symbolically (but not actually, that is not disputing the claims of other countries) claims two uninhabited islands – Hunter Island in South Pacific and Alexander Island in Antarctica. While it is recognized that existing countries may not claim land in Antarcica, one of the predecessors of the current Federal Republic, the Kingdom of Pavlov, proclaimed its sovereignty over Alexander Island upon foundation, and de-jure not annexed but was founded on it. Hunter Island, in its turn, is a disputed territory of France and Vanuatu, with the sovereignty issue tracing back to the days of the New Hebrides Condominium. The Federal Republic doesn’t dispute the sovereignty of either state: we believe this is a matter between the two of them and have no intentions of asserting actual sovereignty over the island. One day “citizens” of the Federal Republic hope to set foot on their symbolic territory, in the meantime the Ministry of Transport of the then Republic of Lostisland arranged first vessel expedition to Hunter Island in July 2012.
At its current incarnation, the Federal Republic of Lostisland was founded in March 2013 by Yaroslav Mar, a Russian and Israeli musician and travel manager who serves as President, and Denys Tezdzhanenko, a Ukrainian and Dutch IT who served as Prime Minister till May 2013 and serves again since January 2015. Eventually, Lostisland turned into project where everyone can find the field for himself: convoking real-life reunions, arranging vessel tours and expeditions, even issuing own postage stamps – this is far from being the full list of activities and ongoing projects maintained in the Federal Republic. However, it should be noticed that the Federal Republic of Lostisland primarily classifies itself as cultural and social project, and by no means is affiliated to any political movement, party or ideology.