Russians are extreme nationalists and have always been so even under Communism and their leadership reflects this.
They want Russia to run the affairs of the world either directly or indirectly out of national pride,dont forget under Communism their media was completely controlled and apart from anything else they were told over and over again that they were the best at everything including being the best nationality to be.
The people told that are now parents and grandparents and they have passed on their world view to their descendants.
You’ll often find that the nationals of ex Soviet Union republics that apparently hanker for closer ties with or even union with Russia are not ethnically from the regions that they now live in but are the offspring of Russians resettled in in the S.U. era to give a core population in those areas that the Russian leadership could depend on in the event of trouble.
I’ve personally known citizens of the Baltic republics who describe themselves as Russian and are incredibly proud of that fact even though technically it was their grandparents or even greatgrandparents who were technically the true Russians settled there many years ago.
Many people in Russia todays mindsets are not dissimilar to those of German National Socialists in the 20th C.
