How Far Is Russia From The US? You Can Technically Walk Between ...

ViralHow far is Russia from the US? They are separated by 3.8 kilometres but are 21 hours apart

• TN Digital
• Updated Mar 4, 2022, 13:22 IST

The closest geographic point between the borders of the USA and Russia lies in the Bering Strait located in the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Big Diomede and Little Diomede are just 2.4 miles away from each other, but time-wise, they are 21 hours apart.

How far is Russia from the US? | Image: NASA

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• Russia and the USA appear to be on opposites sides of the world
• But the two countries are technically only 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometres) apart
• There are two small islands in Bering Strait - Big Diomede and Little Diomede - that are just 2.4 miles away
• Interestingly, the two islands are 21 hours apart time-wise

When you take a look at the world map, it appears that Russia and the United States of America are on opposite sides of the world. We have seen the world map below in our school books, online.

(Image: mapsofworld.com)

However, Russia and US are not that far apart. In fact, they are much closer than you think.

The narrowest distance between mainland Russia and mainland Alaska is approximately 55 miles (88.5 kilometres), according to alaskacenters.gov.

However, there is a water body that separates the two countries by a distance of just 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometres).

How far is Russia from the US?

(Image: NASA)

The closest geographic point between the borders of the USA and Russia lies in the Bering Strait located in the Pacific Ocean. There are two small islands in Bering Strait - Big Diomede and Little Diomede - that are just 2.4 miles away from each other.

While Big Diomede is owned by Russia, Little Diomede is owned by the US.

(Image: NASA)

Interestingly, Big Diomedes is 21 hours ahead of Little Diomedes.

To add to this, Big Diomedes is also known as Tomorrow Island while Little Diomedes is also known as Yesterday Island.

The stretch of water between these two islands actually freezes over during the winter. So, if you were to walk from the US to Russia on this seasonal sea ice, you would literally be walking into the next day. However, travel between the two islands is not allowed.

The United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 and a new border was drawn between the two islands.

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