The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs.

Quotes

• Russian history is the conflation of the Russian state with a personal ruler. Instead of getting the strong state that they want, to manage the gulf with the West and push and force Russia up to the highest level, they instead get a personalist regime. They get a dictatorship, which usually becomes a despotism. They’ve been in this bind for a while because they cannot relinquish that sense of exceptionalism, that aspiration to be the greatest power, but they cannot match that in reality.
  • Stephen Kotkin, as quoted in "The Weakness of the Despot: An expert on Stalin discusses Putin, Russia, and the West." (11 March 2022), by David Remnick, The New Yorker

External links

• Encyclopedic article on History of Russia on Wikipedia