Chapter 1 - Heartland
From a strategic point of view, Russia is a gigantic continental mass that is identified with Eurasia itself. After the development of Siberia and its integration, Russia unequivocally coincided with the geopolitical concept of Heartland, i.e. "Central Earth" of the continent. Mackinder defined the Russian Great Space as the "Geographical Axis of History." Geographically, landscape, linguistically, climatically, culturally and religiously, Russia is a synthetic unity of the Eurasian West and the Eurasian East, and its geopolitical function does not boil down to summarize or mediate Western and Eastern trends. Russia is something Third, independent and special, neither East nor West. Culturally interpreting the "middle" position of Russia, Russian Eurasians spoke of the special culture of the "Middle Empire", where geographical and geopolitical opposites are removed in a spiritual, vertical synthesis. From a purely strategic point of view, Russia is identical to Eurasia itself, if only because it is precisely its lands, its population, and its industrial and technological development that are large enough to be the basis of continental independence, autarchy and serve as the basis for full continental integration, which is geopolitical laws must happen with every “island”, including the “World Island” itself, i.e. with Eurasia.
In relation to Russia-Heartland, all other Eurasian states and lands are coastal , Rimland. Russia is the “Axis of History" because "civilization" revolves around creating its most catchy, expressive and finished forms, not in its life-giving continental source, but in the “coastal zone”, in the critical strip, where the land of Sushi borders the space of Water, sea or ocean. From a strategic point of view, Russia is an independent territorial structure, whose security and sovereignty are identical to the security and sovereignty of the entire continent. This cannot be said of any other major Eurasian power, neither about China, nor Germany, nor France, nor India. If in relation to its coastal neighbors or to the states of other "Islands" or continents, China, Germany, France, India, etc. can act as continental forces, then in relation to Russia they will always remain “coastal stripes”, Rimland, with all the corresponding strategic, cultural and political consequences. Only Russia can speak on behalf of Heartland with a complete geopolitical foundation. Only its strategic interests are not only close to the interests of the continent, but are strictly identical to them (at least at the current stage of development of the technosphere, this is the case).