Looks like, so far, we have two points of view. Yet the colonization argument is standing on a more objective grounds than the more emotional stance of Siberia being a victim of russian imperialism. Howevet the two standpoints seems to collide on the notion, that Siberia became Russia (or through Siberia, Russia became "Russia") approximately at the end of the XVIII century . A question arises: what was the status of Siberia in the XVII-XVIII centuries? Was it a colony? Was it a frontier? Or something other?