CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 111 of 120

Correct — C, Belarus. Belarus is bordered by Russia to the east and north-east and by Ukraine to the south, as well as by Poland to the west and Lithuania and Latvia to the north-west. That places it between the two states at war since February 2022, which is why it has featured so often in reporting on the conflict — troop movements across its southern border towards Kyiv in the opening phase, and its position as a staging area since. Its frontier with Russia is also politically distinctive: the two states are bound by the Union State treaty of 1999, and the border between them has long been lightly controlled. One honest caveat about the item as printed: Poland also touches both countries, since it borders Ukraine in the east and Russia's Kaliningrad exclave in the north-east, so the stem's 'which one' is not strictly exclusive. Belarus is the intended answer as the only option that meets the Russian mainland and Ukraine at once.

• (a)Estonia — Estonia borders Russia and Latvia only. It is nowhere near Ukraine.
• (b)Latvia — Latvia borders Russia, Belarus, Estonia and Lithuania. Belarus lies between it and Ukraine, so it has no Ukrainian frontier.
• (d)Poland — The one defensible rival. Poland does border Ukraine, and it borders Russia through the Kaliningrad exclave, so on a strict reading it also qualifies — but its Russian frontier is with a detached exclave, not the Russian mainland, and Belarus is the country the item is built around.

Ukraine's neighbours are Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. Russia's European neighbours include Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia, plus Poland and Lithuania through the Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic. Belarus is the only landlocked state in the group and the only one that shares a long land frontier with both Russia and Ukraine.

Map questions of this kind are best answered by fixing a small number of anchors rather than by recalling every border. Two anchors do the work here: the Baltic states run along Russia's north-western flank and do not reach as far south as Ukraine, and Belarus sits directly between Russia and northern Ukraine. Kaliningrad is the detail that makes Poland arguable and is worth knowing in its own right, since it is Russian territory separated from the rest of the country and wedged between Poland and Lithuania. Worth flagging: UPSC has not released a key for this paper, and some answer keys in circulation mark (b), Latvia. Latvia has no boundary with Ukraine at all, so this card takes (c).

• Belarus borders Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and is landlocked.
• Ukraine's neighbours are Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.
• Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave on the Baltic between Poland and Lithuania, separated from the Russian mainland.
• Russia and Belarus signed the Union State treaty in 1999, providing for close political, economic and military integration.

• Assuming a Baltic state must reach Ukraine because all lie on Russia's western side.
• Forgetting Kaliningrad, which gives Poland and Lithuania a Russian land border.
• Confusing Belarus with Moldova, which borders Ukraine and Romania but not Russia.

As a which-country-borders-both item, or as a list-the-neighbours question on Ukraine, Russia or a Baltic state.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Kaliningrad, an exclave of Russia on the Baltic Sea, lies between

  • (a)Estonia and Latvia
  • (b)Poland and Lithuania
  • (c)Finland and Sweden
  • (d)Belarus and Ukraine

  Answer(b) Poland and Lithuania — which is why both share a land border with Russia despite being separated from the Russian mainland.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following countries does NOT share a border with Ukraine?

  • (a)Hungary
  • (b)Romania
  • (c)Bulgaria
  • (d)Moldova

  Answer(c) Bulgaria — Ukraine's neighbours are Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.