What if Kiev instead of Moscow forms closer ties with the Mongols and manages to become responsible for collecting the taxes of the other Russian principalities and then manages to unite/conquer the other principalities? What effects does this have on Russian and Slavic identity? Would Russia become as autocratic as it did IOTL?
I think the surrounding countryside being much more fertile than Moscow's might have some interesting effects. With bountiful harvests being in the same place as the population that need them, the peasants won't need to be taxed as heavily, leading to a less autocratic culture.