[x]

Yes, the Mongol conquests and the "Tatar yoke" that followed were responsible for much of what Russia became in later centuries.

But Peter, Catherine, the later tsars, Lenin, and Stalin were all in their own way trying to "modernize" the country.

There was some ambiguity with those later tsars. They didn't want freedom or democracy. But they didn't reject Western technology when they could get it. And they used Western bureaucratic methods to run their autocracy.

The early Communists also saw themselves as trying to bring Russia into the 20th century, though they also rejected western ideas of freedom and representative government.

[otness_e]

I don’t know about the early Communists rejecting western ideas of freedom. They certainly embraced the strain of the western idea of freedom brought about by the French Revolution and Reign of Terror based on Lenin’s own remarks and their use of the French National Anthem for their acts.

BTW, I wonder what happened to Golden State Rose? From clicking the user’s page, Golden State Rose seems to be either banned or suspended.