The Second Renaissance didn't magically bloom around the world in a very short amount of time. The expansion of technology took decades, little was willingly shared. Technology was spread through trade, lend lease agreements, long term treaties, theft and espionage, and other less than savory means. The Eurasian Alliance was the last of the New Earth Governments to form, and it was also the last power to enter the Cosmic Era. This has given it two broad associations, being backwards and being slow. Neither is exactly true, but then there has to be a grain of truth to a stereotype for it to remain.

Duncan Duncannon, Northwind Arcology, Scotland

Roots

The origin of the Eurasian Alliance are tied to the economic disparity in Europe and non-Chinese Asia. Going through the Second Dark age, much of Russia and the former Soviet nations were particularly hard hit. The population contraction was particularly severe in states like the Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, Greece, and Turkey. These nations had largely subsisted on technological and economic support from stronger nations around them, or had subsisted on economic based trade such as food goods, mines, and manufacturing tied to a low cost of labor workforce. The Second Dark Age was less devastating in many NATO countries, who had built first generation arcologies, and were working with nuclear and hybrid reactors. 

While Russia might be the core of the Eurasian Alliance, it is not it's point of origin. The Eurasian Alliance started germinating after the Third Paris Accord, which laid out the European nations that would be joining the Atlantic Federation. A good number of the nations who attended the accord were denied membership in the Federation. There were many reasons, some nations, like Greece, were little more than anarchist states, others were given the thumbs down because of the shattered nature of their economies, ecological damage, and a variety of other reasons. 

The Mediterranean League was formed from Spain, Italy, and Greece as a counterpoint to the European branch of the Atlantic Federation. Italy lead with the largest (fascist at the time) military, supported by Spain's wounded but not dead economy. The Mediterranean League was a disaster from the start as Spain demanded control of the League finances, while Italy expected to consolidate control over all the member militaries. Both were denied as both were correctly suspected of planning to usurp control of the league through their strategery. The two nations were quickly embroiled in a low intensity war that was only ended after the involvement of the Pro-European Union anti-Federation Armas terrorist organization.

Armas lead the Mediterranean League for almost thirty years. During that time, the League expanded to occupy Crete, Sicily, the Balkan Pensinsula and parts of North Africa.