This is the reason why Napoleon in 1812 and Hitler's troops marched directly to Moscow in 1941. Second, Russia has no warm water ports. Most of its ports are frozen in the winters. Without warm water ports, Russia cannot trade easily.
This is the reason why Russia was so actively active in Crimea and Syria. It needed access to warm seas. If we talk about Britain, it ruled the world for about 100 years. Geography gave it a lot of advantage. Because it was an island, it was always protected from