My countries first historical name was Rascia. But we are also of Slavic origin. So it is pronounced almost the same as Russia. There's actually older name for Slavs (which Scythians were probably part of, as there were a lot of Slavic tribes, during the centuries some tribe names became nations). The thing is, those tribes were separated by religion, as some became Cahtolics and others stayed Orthodox. Basically every war between for example Poles and Russians was a civil war between the same people. And almost every war between those started because of the religion reasons.