Moscow and St. Petersburg - which make up a huge chunk of Russia economically, politically, and in terms of population - are very European historically and cult

Moscow and St. Petersburg - which make up a huge chunk of Russia economically, politically, and in terms of population - are very European historically and culturally. But Russia is a gigantic country with a lot of population that isn't particularly European in any sense. Ukraine on the other hand is basically 100% European any way you want to slice it beside Putin's revisionist history.