What factors draw eastern europe's cultural boundaries?

After being closed off from Europe by the Mongols, the tsar Peter the Great decided to raise Russia up to one of the top powers in the world and to do this, he introduced Western European culture into his territory. These cultures later transitioned onto the lands that Russia would soon conquer, making up the Eastern European countries. 

Answer any resource, such as wood or solar energy, that can or will be replenished naturally in the course of time;