“Wonder who they learned that business model from.”
Actually their first recorded expedition into another country was in the 9th century. I think they’ve had plenty of time to perfect it.
wy69
Well, Moscow didn't even exist in the 9th century. It grew up during the Mongols' 13th century reign by playing footsie with the Khans, and started expanding into its neighbours territory when the Golden Horde began to dissolve, about the end of the 14th. After knocking over the other cities in the forest zone, the first big conquest was the city of Kazan, on the Volga, which by then had been a sedentary population of mostly Turkic peoples (Tatars) for a hundred years or more. That was 1552. It is still about half Tatar, and Muslim.