Chapter 11 Summary and Analysis

Russia is the world's largest country in terms of territory, , and has more neighbors than any other country. With its exclave of Kaliningrad, Russia has Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine as European neighbors, and has issues with nearly every one of them. To the south, Russia shares a border with Georgia and Azerbaijan, two of its former states. These two republics are situated in one of the most political areas in the world, Transcaucasia, where they border several Russian-controlled republics including Chechnya, where the people had hoped for independence in the post-communist era and where some continue to fight for freedom from what they perceive as Russian oppression. Russia also shares borders with four Asian nations: China, Mongolia, North Korea, and Kazakhstan. Even with the loss of 14 of its dependencies, Russia remains the world's largest country based on...