What countries border Russia? These 14 share land with the world's biggest country.
Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article misspelled NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's name.
Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to double the troops stationed along its border with the Baltic states and Finland in preparation for a potential military conflict with NATO in the next decade, Estonia's Foreign Intelligence Service said Tuesday.
Finland joined NATO last year, reinforcing the alliance’s eastern edge and borders. Sweden will likely join this year, according to comments made by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier this year. Finland shares a border of nearly 900 miles with Russia. But even with the addition of Finland, only 11% of Russia borders NATO countries. Russia is the biggest country in the world.
Here's a list of the countries that make up the rest of the border.
What countries border Russia?
Fourteen countries border Russia. The sprawling country encompasses 10% of the total land on Earth. These countries share a border with Russia:
North Korea
China
Mongolia
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Ukraine
Belarus
Latvia
Poland
Lithuania
Estonia
Finland
Norway
Russia borders Poland and Lithuania via the Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea, its westernmost region that is detached from mainland Russia.
It also shares a maritime border with Japan, the subject of a decades-long feud involving a string of disputed islands called the "Kurils" by Russia and the "Northern Territories" by Japan.
How close is the U.S. to Russia?
There are 55 miles between mainland Russia and mainland Alaska.
But when it comes to islands, there are only 2.5 miles between Russia's Big Diomede and the U.S.'s Little Diomede. This water freezes over in the winter, so “you could technically walk from the US to Russia on this seasonal sea ice,” the National Parks Service writes.
Can you travel to Russia?
Russia is currently under a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for U.S. travelers. The State Department cites safety concerns related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “arbitrary enforcement of local law,” limited flights in and out of Russia, U.S. credit and debit cards not working in the country, the U.S. Embassy’s limited ability to aid U.S. citizens and “the possibility of terrorism.”
The State Department also warns of the risk of wrongful detainment amid rising cases of Russian imprisonment. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is detained currently, becoming the first American reporter to be charged with espionage in Russia since 1986. He remains in prison awaiting trial after almost one year of wrongful detainment. Fellow American Paul Whelan also remains in prison after he was detained on espionage charges in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years.
WNBA player Brittney Griner was wrongfully detained for almost 10 months after Russian prosecutors claimed to find 0.7 grams of hashish oil in vape cartridges in Griner’s luggage. She was released in December 2022.
Other jailed Americans who do not have the State Department’s official designation of wrongful detainment “fear being left behind,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
What is NATO? Here's which countries belong to the alliance
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What countries border Russia? A map of all 14, and how close the US is