devils advocate -Just like Egypt and Mesopotamia?
funny thing that many people dont' know
russia state started as being taken over by vikings, that's why ancient russian battle dress looks so scandinavian
soon after that russia was taken over by ghengis khan mongol horde for another century
then came tzar peter the first who forced russians to adapt western dress and culture
the bottom line is that russians are extremely insecure nationalistic because, deep bottom down, they know their whole culture has been borrowed from one place or another
Or Greek and Rome?
Or any other nation in the world for that matter?