A small remote island in the East Siberian Sea is shrouded in mystery – especially since Google Maps covered the Russian island with a black mark.

Google Map sleuths have scoured the world to find some downright unusual and at times terrifying things picked up by the site's fleet of cameras since it was launched in 2007.

However, not everywhere can be found on the site. Reports say 87 out of 200 countries have been fully covered, but Google said that many other countries on the planet have at least some coverage.

But one island which measures just 3.3 square kilometres, and is recognised as Russian territory, is off-limits – sparking dozens of conspiracy theories.

Jeannette Island is mainly covered by ice but it has been ‘censored’ by Google, which continued to keep quiet as to why it has obscured the tiny island.

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That continued silence, as well as a historical debate over whether the island belongs to the USA or Russia, has fuelled conspiracy theories and some believe this to be the reason behind the black mark.

According to the Mirror, other deliberately blocked out locations on Google maps are usually associated with military activity, such as German air bases, Russian missile stores and Afghan bases.

One Reddit user wrote: “Google rarely blacks out without reason.

"A search through google earth shows that this has been permanently blurred out – even in images dating back to the 1980s.

“But what really gets me is that Jeannette Island is completely non-notable… or at least supposedly.

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“I’m going to guess there’s a concealed Russian military base located there, and possibly quite a substantial one at that.”

The island was discovered in 1881 during an expedition led by American Navy officer George E. De Long.

De Long and his crew took shelter on the island and took possession of it in the name of the United States. They named the island after their ship, the USS Jeannette.

However, following the Imperial Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition of 1910-1915, Russia declared Jeannette Island part of the Russian Federation.

Today, the island belongs to the Sakha Republic of the Russian Federation, something the United States does not dispute.

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