Simple. Nobody else wanted it. So there was no opposition when the various Russian tribes moved east. Here's an example: this is the Mongol Empire in 1279
At that point Siberia was empty. There was literally nobody there. The Mongols could have simply moved in. But they didn't. They didn't want to. They preferred fighting wars for decades over a useless frozen piece of land.
So over time the Russians took it, because it was there for the taking. And they kept going into Alaska even. But they already knew in the 19th century that the country had become too big to properly govern. This was the main reason they desperately wanted to get rid of Alaska. And the Americans didn't want it either, they thought it was worthless. The Russians offered Alaska to the USA three times before the USA finally agreed.
And even today there's hardly anyone there. It's still mostly empty.
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