The distance between Russia and America.

That depends how you look at it.

The shortest distance between Russia and the USA are the two Diomede Islands that are split between the two countries, which are only 3.8 km (2.4 mi) apart in the Bering Strait. Russia owns Big Diomede to the West, whilst the USA owns Little Diomede to the East. In the winter, the water separating these two islands tends to freeze over, making it possible to walk between the USA and Russia.

Depending on if you count frozen ocean as “land”, you can say that they share a “direct border” in the winter (although I personally don’t count it).

Now, if we are talking about the Russian mainland (Chukotka) and “mainland“ USA (Alaska) across the Bering Strait, that distance is about 88 km (55 mi).

If you want to exclude Alaska and just want to include the Lower 48 states, the closest point between Russia (Chukotka) and the USA (Washington State) is roughly 3,252 km (2,021 mi).

Of course, this number can be much higher. Both Russia and the USA are among the largest countries in the world, so distance can range quite a large distance depending what reference point you use in each respective country. For example, we discussed how the closet point between mainland Russia and mainland USA is 3,252 km (2,021 mi), the furthest point is around 11,828 km (7,350 mi).

One last distance I’d like to share, is the two capitals, Russia’s Moscow and America’s Washington DC, which is 7,821 km (4,860 mi).