This was through large captures, of course.
The hope of glory through conquest of lands is deep in the Russian psyche. Without a countervailing power, that does not just vanish.
“The hope of glory through conquest of lands is deep in the Russian psyche. Without a countervailing power, that does not just vanish.”
But historically Russia has not been a very proficient aggressor; in fact, Russia has historically not been much of an aggressor at all. That’s because historically whenever Russia would dip its toe into some foreign adventure for “conquest” or territory, it usually got its butt kicked. Russia has historically been rather timid as an aggressor, other than loud chest thumping that never went further than that (with the sole exception of WWII, when it counter-attacked the Germans, who, at the beginning of WWII were the Russians’ allies).