[dighton]

FWIW, a fellow who agrees:

Let it be clearly understood that the Russian is a delightful person till he tucks his shirt in. As an Oriental he is charming. It is only when he insists upon being treated as the most easterly of Western peoples, instead of the most westerly of Easterns, that he becomes a racial anomaly extremely difficult to handle. The host never knows which side of his nature is going to turn up next.

— Kipling, The Man Who Was.

[Clemenza]

Kipling was very much correct. Tsar Peter I and Catherine both tried to westernize Russia, but, IMHO, had the same mixed success as Ataturk did in Turkey.