0000
Written
2015
Addressed to
2020s

Not even 25 years have passed since most of us first saw Europe with our own eyes. Before, this was impossible because of the Iron Curtain. And now the impression is forming that this curtain is falling once again.

Lyudmila Ulitskaya

Interview for newsru.com, June 22, 2015

Annotation

Ulitskaya's warning proved grimly prescient. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU imposed flight bans and visa restrictions on Russian citizens. Russia responded with exit controls, media censorship, and a crackdown on dissent that echoed Soviet-era repression. A literal new Iron Curtain descended — not just metaphorically but in practical terms of travel, information flow, and cultural exchange. What she sensed as an 'impression forming' in 2015 became the defining geopolitical rupture of the 2020s.

What Actually Happened

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU suspended its visa facilitation agreement with Russia, and visa issuance to Russian citizens plummeted from over 4 million in 2019 to roughly 500,000 by 2023. The EU imposed flight bans, and individual member states added further entry restrictions. Russia responded with media censorship, exit pressures on dissidents, and a crackdown that echoed Soviet-era repression. The metaphorical iron curtain Ulitskaya sensed forming in 2015 became a practical reality within seven years.

#society#war-politics

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