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LEARNED TODAY: There’s a piece of Russia that isn’t connected to the rest of Russia. Wikipedia says:

Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, Kaliningradskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of 941,873 (2010 Census).

The oblast forms the westernmost part of Russia, but it has no land connection to the rest of the country. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then of the Russian Federation. The fall of the Soviet Union left it isolated from the ‘mainland’. It is surrounded by Lithuania, Poland, and the Baltic Sea. Borderless travel to the main part of Russia is only possible by sea or air.

I don’t know why this is so surprising to me. After all, 586,000 square miles of the United States doesn’t border the U.S., does border Canada, and is closer to Russia than to the rest of the country it belongs to. 

Map image derived from Google Maps. If you like Tumblr, Google Maps, or Wikipedia, please consider taking a stand against SOPA/PIPA and asking your representatives (congresspeople and senators in the U.S., foreign ministries elsewhere) to do the same.