Fyodor Dostoevsky. Diary of a writer (№ 423414)

And indeed, all of our Russian Asia, including Siberia, for Russia still seems to exist in the form of some kind of pendant, which, as it were, our European Russia does not even want to be interested in. "We are, they say, Europe, what should we do in Asia?" There were even very harsh voices: “Oh, this is our Asia, we in Europe cannot get some order for ourselves and get a job, but here they are also shoving us into Asia. This Asia is superfluous for us, at least to put it somewhere! " These judgments are sometimes heard even now among our clever people, from their very big mind, of course.