Immediately had to think of Baron von Münchausen pulling himself out of a swamp by his own hair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchhausen_trilemma
54 karma · joined January 12, 2025
From what I know this is because it was a relatively remote, dangerous and poor region (all by the standards of hundred years back) which changed ownership a lot (between clergy, bavaria, prussia) and people were mostly left to themselves
but the article mentions ONLYOFFICE which seems to have strong connection to Russia, this is what your parent meant