I heard a theory once that every civilization is essentially based on one of a few core emotions, such as Shame, Guilt, Envy, etc. It seems to me like alot of Russias motivation for many things throughout history has been jealousy. Not envy but jealousy. Not "Man I wish I had a cool car like that" but "How fucking dare you have a nicer car then me, I'm going to burn down your car and house". I remember reading an account from a guy who was present during the revolution in Russia in 1917. He mentioned how after the "revolution" had suceeded all these huge buildings were burned down and destroyed. Someone asked why they didn't just use the buildings instead of destroying them and he was very quickly silenced. It's not a perfect theory but if that isn't extreme jealousy I don't know what else it could be.