not to mention the the bioweapons research facility that used to be isolated on an island and now is on a penninsula.

nerdy video game trivia --
i'd always assumed the aral sea was the inspiration for some of the "highway 17" level in half life 2 (http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Highway_17) -- lots of ships far inland where they've been stranded, and looking at the site, there, it looks like i'm not the only one. (the game has a lot of very eastern-european-looking environments.)