I think Communism just exacerbated what was already present in Russian. There was this very popular philosophical movement in the middle of the 19th century called Slavophilia (Slavianophili). Followers of it argued that Russia should pursue its unique Slavic way that differs significantly from Europeans, it should be based on a special Slavic spirituality. By popular, I mean that Russian intelligentsia divided into two camps: you're either Slavophil or "Westernizer"— another movement that argued for European integration. I'm not saying that Communism and Slavophilia have many things in common, but what they do have is this idea that Russia has to choose some kind of special social and political direction. Many Russians have this very unhealthy ideas of some kind of exceptionamism. You see, they didn't just canceled other nations, they dragged then into the Soviet Union, and imposed Russian culture and Russian language — that's something more than just following communist ideology. That's a sign of presumed cultural superiority.