[eganist]

Rus: "We'll support you with your interests if you at the very least turn a blind eye to ours"

That's my naive read, anyway.

[easy_rider_2137]

Russia, not Rus. Rus and Russia are two totally different things.

[usr1106]

RUS is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_vehicle_registra... of Russia, I cannot see anything wrong with that.

No idea what Rus might be.

[eganist]

In fairness, I should've contracted even further to the ISO 3166 code "RU"

Vehicle codes are only slightly less clear than the ISO codes, but they're used in a surprising number of places, like international sports.

Edit: Oh wait, I'm mis-speaking. Sports tend to use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3, which includes RUS

So yeah, I guess I don't feel bad.

[madars]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27

[meepmorp]

Maybe OP is suggesting Putin wants to restore the medieval glory of Kievan Rus',

[easy_rider_2137]

That would be like Islandia resurrecting British Empire. Literally, well maybe actually Islandia has more right to do so than Russia have anything to do with Rus'.