It seems as though the other big three successor khanates of the mongol empire has a tendency to “go native”/assimilate to those they conquered, but for some reason, it seems that the Golden Horde is for the most part the only exceptions overall. Is there a reason or reasons that the Golden Horde never Russified?
It’s because the native population of the Golden Horde was not Russian. When you look at modern maps you’ll see that most of Golden Horde territory is in Russia and Ukraine. Though this would be misleading, because those areas were not populated by Russians, or any other slavs until very recently. This area is known as the Pontic Steppe. The earliest inhabitants we know were the nomadic Schythians, and before the Mongol invasion it was populated by once again nomadic Cumans, who spoke a Turkic language. So in essence Golden Horde did not Russify, because minimal number of Russians lived within its borders. However it did assimilate. Mongol invasion come with more Turkic peoples on top of the Cumans who were already there. Eventually Golden Horde assimilated into Turkic peoples within the khanate. Even the name Golden Horde (Ulu Ulus) is a Turkic word.