"The outside world cannot force such a psychological recognition, what the Germans call Vergangenheitsbewältigung“coming to terms with the past.” But there is no reason it could not come about organically, among Russians themselves. Eventually, the country could try to follow something like the trajectory of France, which retains a lingering sense of exceptionalism yet has made peace with its loss of its external empire and its special mission in the world, recalibrating its national idea to fit its reduced role and joining with lesser powers and small countries in Europe on terms of equality."

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2016-04-18/russias-perpetual-geopolitics