Ivan the Terrible erupts

A cloud of ash and noxious gases spewed out onto remote Iturup island, part of the Kuril group in the Russian Far East.

First reports said there was no danger to people in the nearest settlement, Goryachiye Klyuchi, some nine kilometres away, and the town of Kurilsk, 25 km distant.

Locals reported a faint smell of hydrogen sulfide gas, which later disappeared.

Scientists say the eruption was started by recent torrential rain, causing a huge increase in the volume of water in underground channels around the volcano. 

The volcano previously erupted in 1968, 1973, and 1989, but none of the eruptions threatened life nearby.

Specialists from the Emergency Situations Ministry and the  the Sakhalin Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics are monitoring the volcano.  Locals were warned not to go near. 

When the volcano last erupted in 1989 - still in the Soviet era - Tass reported that Ivan had 'a slight cough'.

The real Ivan the Terrible - or Ivan Groznyy - ruled Russia from 1583 until 1584 and was prone to violent rages. During one, he killed his own son and heir.