Russia will always have an adversarial relationship with Europe. Russia is huge. Its borders are essentially indefensible and (justly or not) it will always be insecure about its own territorial integrity unless it controls the countries around it as buffer states.

    Russian territory is stupendously rich in 
    vital natural resources, to the extent that 
    sooner or later it will become a super power 
    just on this account alone.

So why hasn't this happened yet?

Russia is resource-rich but sparse. There are riches in the ground, but everything is 1,000km from everything else. This makes it hard to transport goods and also hard to have a prosperous middle class outside of Moscow or a few other cities.

Also, considering what has gone on with Russian natural gas, many countries don't exactly love the idea of relying on Russia for crucial resources.

Russia also has poor farmland and can't feed itself easily without grain from places like Ukraine. Maybe after 50 years of global warming some tundra will thaw and then they can grow wheat in Siberia.

I'm not exactly "blaming" Russia here. Russia's territorial concerns are, well... hey... you know, the Cold War really happened, and the wounds are still there. Both sides.

> Russian territory is stupendously rich in vital natural resources, to the extent that sooner or later it will become a super power just on this account alone. I'm not just talking about oil but fresh water and oxygen too.

"Mr. President, we must not allow a̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶e̶-̶s̶h̶a̶f̶t̶ an oxygen gap!"

> Russian territory is stupendously rich in vital natural resources

If space industry will get going in next 50 years, then this is going to be completely irrelevant.

Hard to see how they are stronger after this

Russia is already dependent on North Korea munitions and drones from Iran ffs

For reference, in 2003 the US military deployed half-way around the world and captured Baghdad in 3 weeks

Nuclear super-power Russia has not been able to reach Kiev - just 6 hours away - in 28 months of open conflict