Russia does belong in Europe. Except perhaps for the poor bastard Siberians they steamrollered and of course the large chunk of China they stole when China was weak.

But Europe, TBH has never been an oasis of love. It's always been a battleground, and pretty much between blocks from Lithuanian Empire blocking the Mongols onwards, until finally after WW2 we agreed we had had enough. Well, all the bits outside the Iron Curtian. They jumped over in 89/90.

Hopefully a future Russian leadership will give a damn about their people and become decent too. But this leadership, isn't.