Vladimir Putin’s war has brought forth a new iron curtain. The invasion of Ukraine has provoked a reaction that, in a few days, has hibernated all the connections built between the West and Russia in the three decades that have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the USSR. The de- Westernization of Russia is advancing at an impressive speed on multiple fronts, reversing a process that had profoundly marked the daily life of Russian society. As it does, that message is spreading globally, with many countries uncomfortable with dependence on Western financial markets and technologies reconsidering their strategic calculations about whether (and how) to pursue a decoupling.
