Back to topic. A critical question is whether Archangel is "coastal".
Seriously, I've seen Russia do quite well with colonizing Siberia, and I always play with TO owning Ingermannland. I've played 12 hands off with IGC2.3, and a few more with IGC2.0, 2.1 and so on. A big problem is EU1.09. All colonization by the ai is reduced by this patch.
I've seen Russia be very aggressive early and then crippled by its ToT, but still end up colonizing a great deal. I've seen Russia be very passive early, but still end up colonizing a great deal. But, either way, colonization is not going to occur seriously (by the ai), until the mid-1600s. Given PTI, this is historical.
The only problem I see is with EU1.09. It fixed tech progression, but seriously broke colonization.