The Russian Federation has the longest state border in the world, with a length of 60,900 kilometers, which is one third longer than the equator. It is quite natural that Russia is also a record holder in terms of the number of neighboring countries.
Russia is the largest country on Earth. Modern Russia was founded in December 1991. No other country in the world can boast such long land and sea borders. The geographic center of the Russian Federation is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The state border of Russia is guarded by the border service.
Recognized neighbors with land and sea borders
It is definitely impossible to answer the question about the exact number of Russia's neighbors on the world map. It all depends on what and how to count. If we take the northwest corner of Russia as a starting point, then the neighboring Scandinavian countries are Norway and Finland. There is also a common border with all the Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The latter, like Poland, are Russia's neighbors only thanks to the Kaliningrad region - a small enclave separated from the territory of "greater Russia" by the borders of these countries. The list of neighbors on the European side is completed by the union state of Belarus and Ukraine.
In the Caucasus region, Russia's neighbors are two states: Georgia and Azerbaijan. Further, the line stretches across the countries of Asia. The first on the list is Kazakhstan. Russia has the longest border with it - more than seven thousand kilometers. It is followed by the People's Republic of China, the Mongolian Republic and a short, about twenty kilometers, section of the border with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Unrecognized countries and countries with maritime borders
Many countries from the previous list have both sea and land borders with Russia. However, the two countries border the Russian Federation only by sea, without touching on land. These are Japan and the United States of America, with which they are divided along the Bering Strait.
Two more countries can, with some reservations, be recorded as Russia's neighbors: the Republic of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In fact, these are independent states, but not all countries recognize their sovereignty, so they are in a "legally suspended" state.
Thus, depending on the method of calculation, a different number of countries can be considered the neighbors of the Russian Federation. Fourteen states have land borders with Russia. If we add to them the states with maritime borders, then their number will increase to sixteen. If we take into account, among other things, the republics that are not recognized by the entire world community, then the Russian Federation has 18 neighboring countries.
