Span...Your description of Ivan IV is simplistic and therefore false
Extreme times sometimes call for extreme measures
http://www.vor.ru/English/homeland/home_009.html
“Your description of Ivan IV is simplistic and therefore false”
BS - Ivan was a scumbag and he established the Russian disdain for human life.
“In a dispute with the wealthy city of Novgorod, Ivan ordered the Oprichniks to murder inhabitants of this city, which was never to regain its former prosperity. His followers burned and pillaged the city and villages.[3] As many as 60,000 might have been killed during the infamous Massacre of Novgorod in 1570....
In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, which may have caused a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father, which resulted in Ivan striking his son in the head with his pointed staff, causing his son’s (accidental) death.