If Russia is apart of Europe...which it is.I was in St Petersburg Russia and it testified to that.Plus Moscow/

Question

if Russia is apart of Europe...which it is.I was in St Petersburg Russia and it testified to that.Plus Moscow/

Question Details: Ural mountains is the dividing line of europe.Why does Russia not trust the rest of Europe and the USA.It seems as if it marches to its own beat of the drum.Does it really distrust the west??? It ashame.Its a beautiful country with vast natural resources.They seem to have a very rough/gruff exterior.is this so??

Answer 1

Most of Russia is East of the Urals and for most of its history it was controlled by the Tartars.  In fact Russia has a long history of being invaded from every direction.  Napoleon, Hitler, Genghis Khan, the Ottoman Turks, etc...  When the Teutonic Knights came through eastern Europe and they were on there way to Jerusalem so WTF?  They don't distrust the West, they distrust everyone.  If anything, they have more trust of the USA than anyone else, but they are big fans of "balance of power" strategy.  So they don't like us being so much more powerful; sometimes this comes across as distrust, but really they just want to equalize the balance of power.  

Besides- how much do you trust the Russians?  Consider this:  on 9/01/1983, the Soviets (Russians) shot down Korean Airlines flight 007 just because they had strayed off course and were flying over Russia.

On 9/11/2001 - just after the WTC and Pentagon were attacked, a Korean airliner flew into our airspace squawking the code for Hijacked!  Yet even on that day, the USAF didn't see fit to just shoot them down.  They intercepted it and escorted it to Whitehorse, Canada.

This is just one example of many of how Russia overreacts, and how the US shows more discretion.

Answer 2

They might have a greater trust of the west if the west would refrain from its periodic invasions. There is a pattern.Teutonic Knights, Napoleon, Hitler. Perhaps with Ukraine independent there'll be less temptation.

Answer 3

Russia has a deeply imbued, historically-based distrust of foreigners.  The Cold War was the greatest example of their bunker mentality, as the military-industrial complex outpaced everything else in the former Soviet Union.