Apparently Putin's inner circle, the siloviki, believes strongly in this bullshit theory:
https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B4_(%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geographical_Pivot_of_History