Norway is the only neighbor of russia that has never been at war with russia or never been invaded or occupied by russia. The arral sea, seeing pictures of it does put it into perspective. It's one of these soviet projects that just, i don't know if they ever thought it was going to work,. They didn't care about the people who were living there. But still, still, they yearn for those days.
Tracing Russia’s vast border, which meets those of 14 other countries, helps tells the history of Russia itself. From its imperial past to Soviet-era expansions and contractions leading up to its current war of aggression in Ukraine today, the Russian border is a landscape of uneasy uncertainty for many of the country's immediate neighbours. Erika Fatland is a Norwegian writer whose work has focused on issues that range from terrorism to travel and cultural history. Her 2020 book, The Border, followed the path of Russia's border over thousands of miles in order to understand how countries approach being a neighbour to a temperamental superpower. Following the tragic events in Ukraine, the book is even more relevant and Erika joined our producer Catharine Hughes to talk about it.
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