[struwwelpeter]

I think it was Rudyard Kipling who said that Russia is not the eastern-most part of the West, but the western-most part of the East.

Of course, Churchill had it right: "The two most stupid statement's I've ever heard are 'alcohol doesn't make me drunk' and 'I understand the Russians'."

[dighton]

I think it was Rudyard Kipling who said that Russia is not the eastern-most part of the West, but the western-most part of the East.

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.