But all in all, it’s a ship-of-Theseus situation. Is something the Roman Empire if it doesn’t contain Rome, consists of land that was never occupied by Romans, uses a language that wasn’t spoken in the Roman Empire, doesn’t have any societal or political connections to the Roman Empire, doesn’t call itself the Roman Empire and ultimately is no empire?
In the case of Russia and then Finland it’s a case of “I once touched someone who touched someone who touched someone who touched the Queen, so I am now the Queen.”
And calling the Western Roman Empire illegitimate (even though it contained Rome) and then the Ottomans too, but calling the Russian Empire (which never had anything to do with the Roman Empire) legitimate is more than questionable.
All in all, a fun little meme, but no factual basis to back it up.