A well-known French researcher of Russian political history is analyzing the centuries-old and thorny historical way of “assembling lands” around Moscow. Russian empire exists no more, but the way out of the empire, as the political scientist holds, hasn’t come to an end: it is a prolonged, painful process. Russian leaders face great difficulties in their efforts to turn over a page, to present the post-Soviet expanse otherwise than in terms of zones of influence, to regard partners as genuinely sovereign states, free in their choice. A detailed historical excursus helps to understand the phenomenon of modern Russian world-power thought.