Personal blog about states
approximately 55 miles
IT IS EASY to forget—if you ever knew—that Russia and the United States are less than three miles apart, across the icy waters of the Bering Strait (see map). From America’s Little Diomede Island, which is indeed very little, you can cheerily wave or glower, depending on your attitude, at Russia’s Big Diomede Island.
Yes. Russia and Alaska are divided by the Bering Strait, which is about 55 miles at its narrowest point. At their closest, these two islands are a little less than two and a half miles apart , which means that, on a clear day, you can definitely see one from the other.
There is no ferry line operating between Alaska and Russia that takes passengers on board. The only way for you to get across with a vehicle is to ship or fly it across the ocean.
The purchase of Alaska in 1867 marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America , and became an important step in the United States rise as a great power in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Bering Strait tunnel was estimated to cost between $10 billion and $12 billion, while the entire project was estimated to cost $65 billion. Shortly after, the Russian government approved the construction of the $65 billion Siberia- Alaska rail and tunnel across the Bering Strait.
On a clear day, you could climb a hill on Cape Prince of Wales and maybe make out mainland Siberia, just fifty miles away. But it’s much easier to get a view of Russia view by heading out into the Bering Strait to one of America’s weirdest destinations: Little Diomede Island.
Although the Strait’s narrowest point is about 53 miles ( 85 km ) wide, there are two islands in its center, Little Diomede (U.S.) and Big Diomede (Russia), which bring the distance of these two nations only 2.5 ( 4 km ) miles apart at their closest point.
Distance from Russia to United States is 8,909 kilometers . The air travel (bird fly) shortest distance between Russia and United States is 8,909 km= 5,536 miles.
In March 2006, Bushby and French adventurer Dimitri Kieffer crossed the Bering Strait on foot, having to take a roundabout 14-day route across a frozen 150-mile (240 km) section to cross the 58-mile (93 km) wide strait from Alaska to Siberia.
On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.
Cox is perhaps best known for swimming 2 hour 5 minutes in the Bering Strait on 7 August 1987, from the island of Little Diomede in Alaska to Big Diomede, then part of the Soviet Union, where the water temperature averaged around 43 to 44 °F (6 to 7 °C).
The Bering sea , near the chain of the Aleutian Islands, is one of the most intense patches of ocean on Earth. Strong winds, freezing temperatures, and icy water are normal conditions. The combination makes for some of the most ferocious waves on the planet, where the water can rise and fall 30 feet on a normal day.
The shortest distance between mainland Russia and mainland Alaska is approximately 88 kilometers (55 miles), according to the Alaska Public Lands Information Centers. The main route of the Trans-Siberian railway runs from Moscow to Vladivostok and covers 9,258 kilometers.
A group of intrepid explorers have made history by driving from Russia to Canada across the North Pole. The group of eight Russians travelled more than 2,485 miles (4,000km) in 70 days in specially created buses across one of the most forbidding parts of the planet.