The Russian Federation is a huge country, occupying first place in the world in terms of occupied territory. The states bordering Russia are located on all sides of the world, and the border itself reaches almost 61 thousand km.
Types of borders
A state’s border is a line that limits its actual area. The territory includes land, water, underground minerals and airspace within the country.
In the Russian Federation there are 3 types of borders: sea, land and lake (river). The sea border is the longest of all, it reaches about 39 thousand km. The land border has a length of 14.5 thousand km, and the lake (river) - 7.7 thousand km.
General information about all states bordering the Russian Federation
What states does Russia border on? The Russian Federation recognizes its proximity to 18 countries.
Names of countries bordering Russia: South Ossetia, Belarus, Republic of Abkhazia, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, United States of America, Japan, Mongolia, People ’s Republic of China, DPRK. First-order countries are listed here.
The capitals of the states bordering Russia: Tskhinval, Minsk, Sukhum, Kiev, Warsaw, Oslo, Helsinki, Tallinn, Vilnius, Riga, Astana, Tbilisi, Baku, Washington, Tokyo, Ulan Bator, Beijing, Pyongyang.
South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia are partially recognized, because not all countries of the world recognized these countries as independent. Russia did this with respect to these states, therefore, it approved the neighborhood with them and the borders.
Some states bordering Russia argue about the correctness of these borders. For the most part, disagreements appeared after the end of the existence of the USSR.
Land borders of the Russian Federation
States bordering Russia by land are located on the continent of Eurasia. They also include lake (river) ones. Not all of them are protected today, some of them can be crossed freely, having only a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation, which is not always checked without fail.
Countries bordering Russia on the mainland: Norway, Finland, Belarus, South Ossetia, Ukraine, the Republic of Abkhazia, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Georgia, Azeibardzhan, Mongolia, People’s Republic of China, DPRK.
Some of them also have a water border.
There are Russian territories that are surrounded on all sides by foreign states. Such sites include the Kaliningrad region, Medvezhye-Sankovo and Dubki.
You can go to the Republic of Belarus without a passport and any border control on any of the possible roads.
Maritime borders of the Russian Federation
Which states does Russia border on the sea? A sea boundary is a line that is 22 km or 12 nautical miles from the coast. The territory of the country includes not only 22 km of water, but also all the islands on this marine site.
The countries bordering Russia by sea: Japan, the United States of America, Norway, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, North Korea. There are only 12. The length of the borders is more than 38 thousand km. With the USA and Japan, Russia has only a maritime border; by land, a demarcation line with these countries does not pass. With other states, there are borders both on water and on land.
Settlement of disputed border areas
At all times, there were disputes between countries over the territory. Some of the disputing countries have already agreed and no longer raise this issue. These include: Latvia, Estonia, China, and Azerbaijan.
The dispute between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan arose over a waterworks and water intake facilities that belonged to Azerbaijan and were actually located in Russia. In 2010, the dispute was resolved, and the border was moved to the middle of this waterworks. Now the countries use the water resources of this hydroelectric complex in equal shares.
After the collapse of the USSR, Estonia considered it unfair that the right bank of the Narva River, Ivangorod and Pechora District remained the property of Russia (Pskov Region). In 2014, countries signed an agreement on the absence of territorial claims. The border did not suffer noticeable changes.
Latvia, like Estonia, began to lay claim to one of the districts of the Pskov region - Pytalovsky. An agreement with this state was signed in 2007. The territory remained in the ownership of the Russian Federation, the border of changes did not suffer.
The dispute between China and Russia ended with the demarcation of the border in the center of the Amur River, which led to the accession of some of the disputed territories to the People's Republic of China. The Russian Federation transferred 337 square kilometers to its southern neighbor, including two sections near the Bolshoi Ussuri and Tarabarov islands and one section near Bolshoi. The signing of the contract took place in 2005.
Unresolved disputed border areas
Some disputes over the territory are not closed to this day. When the contracts will be signed is not yet known. Russia has such disputes with Japan and Ukraine.
The disputed territory between Ukraine and the Russian Federation is the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine considers the 2014 referendum illegal and Crimea occupied. The Russian Federation established its border unilaterally, while Ukraine issued a law establishing a free economic zone on the peninsula.
The dispute between Russia and Japan is over the four Kuril Islands. Countries cannot come to a compromise, because both believe that these islands should belong to it. These islands include Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai.
The boundaries of the exclusive economic zones of the Russian Federation
An exclusive economic zone is a strip of water adjacent to the border of the territorial sea. It cannot be wider than 370 km. In this zone, the country has the right to develop subsoil, as well as to prospect and preserve them, to create artificial structures and use them, to study water and bottom.
Other countries have the right to freely move around this territory, to conduct pipelines and otherwise use this water, while they must take into account the laws of the coastal state. Russia has such zones in the Black, Chukchi, Azov, Okhotsk, Japan, Baltic, Bering and Barents Seas.