Although it was not ruled by an emperor, many scholars considered the Soviet Union an empire because of its immense size and its status as the successor state of the Russian Empire. The Soviet Union was the largest country in the world. It covered 8,649,539 square miles (22,402,200 km 2), including several islands in Pacific and Arctic waters. The USSR occupied slightly more than one-sixth of the earth's land surface. From the Baltic Sea in the west, the USSR stretched 6,000 miles (9,700 km) eastward to the Bering Sea. From north to south the Soviet mainland extended from the Arctic Ocean to the deserts of Central Asia, some 2,500 miles (4,000 km), or about the distance from New York to Los Angeles.