It makes more sense when examining their history. This is probably a decent place to start: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/russia-geo

It makes more sense when examining their history. This is probably a decent place to start: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/russia-geography-ukraine-syria/413248/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/ru...