“The east” is vast and not just Russia.
Russia or more specifically is derived from the Mongol khaganate.
Moscow was the tax collected loyal subject to the Great Khan. Alexander Nevsky got a helmet withQuranic verses as a gift for fighting on behalf of the Grear Khan vs the western Teutonic knights.
Moscow took over more and more of the Golden horde until the fall of Constantinople on 1453.
Then he claimed to be the third Rome.
He claimed, but his governance and clues monopolized.
Khagan Putin is the heir to the Jochi Khagan Tokhtamysh
It’s a fascinating history indeed. The vast east. Mind boggling.