Country extending over much of northern Eurasia. The Russian border is the world's longest.Russia has boundaries with 14 countries: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (via the Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the People's Republic of China and North Korea. Russia has a largely continental climate because of its sheer size and compact configuration. The highest precipitation falls Russia is lavishly endowed with natural resources, but industrial development was hindered until the twentieth century by their Siberian inaccessibility. Russia now produces 20 per cent of the world’s natural gas, and oil is also a valuable commodity. Russia is self-sufficient in all major industrial raw materials, and contains reserves of less essential, but nevertheless significant, natural resources, including diamonds and gold.