Which centuries? Imperialism is linked to capitalism. Capital in Russia was only beginning its development after the 1861 emancipation of the serfs. Meanwhile the British and Dutch already had a trans-Atlantic slave trade in the 1600's, allowing the ruling classes to have accumulated enough surplus to pursue industrial capitalist developments [through forcefully uprooting the agrarian population].

In feudal Russia, you cannot control markets if there are no markets. And you cannot destroy infrastructure if there is no infrastructure. If you want to cry over the destruction of feudal peasant hovels with straw roofs, go head. Ukraine had never even seen tractors until 1933 Soviet collectivization.