East

By engaging in direct confrontation with the West during the SMO, even though the West itself participates through its Ukrainian proxy structure, which cannot be called a 'country', Russia is forced to defend its sovereignty on all levels. In terms of military, economic and formal policy, this is quite obvious, but the West is much more than a political-military-economic structure: it is a civilization with a fundamental program code. Everything else is derived from this code: weapons, economy, politics, culture, education, science, media, etc. Russia is now forced to confront the whole spectrum and, in general, the Western code itself.