Muscovite woman mocked foreign war-recruits after taking bribes to avoid front lines.

[Litwin]

But Muscovite (imperial) "culture" is beautiful - ballet, opera, and some other shit ...Mysterious Muscovite soul

"Let us begin with this evident fact: Muscovy does not belong at all to Europe, but to Asia. It follows that judging Muscovy and the Muscovites by our European standards is a mistake to be avoided."—gonzague de reynold, 19501
In methodological terms, one should de-Europeanise any analysis of Muscovy policy.— thomas gomart, 20062 "