The author deliberates on the different paradigms of transformation in the Central and East European states and Russia, and attempts to offer an answer to the questions: What stopped Russia from breaking free of its past civilizational logic? What was the balance between inevitability and lost historical opportunity in Russia’s case? Is there hope for a future transformation in Russia? The author analyses the confluence of several elements that helped to set Russia’s course: the influence of history; the challenges of the transformation process itself; the importance of leadership; and the role of the West.