An east-west divide deeper than the cold war: what I saw on my summer trip to Russia

People walk near the Kremlin in Moscow in January 2025. Oleg Elkov / Shutterstock

I went to Moscow this summer on a trip that was as awkward as it was illuminating. I left feeling Russia is not just a changed country, but a separate civilisation.

As one academic I met there explained: “Russia is not a fortress. Maybe as the Soviet Union, it was. But we are very open to the rest of the world – this time it’s the west that has drawn the iron curtain.”