@Whitehat - you're right, I don't have my finger on the pulse of the Eastern European everyman's sentiments about Russia. But despite sharing slavic roots, I know a lot of Czechs who are biased against Russia. They remember 1968 and the subsequent occupation. I lived in a communist-era housing estate where the people called the cockroaches "Russians". A few years ago one of the country's 2 nuclear plants announced a tender for construction of new reactors, and the government schemed how to exclude Russian companies. In my neighborhood, I know of 2 or 3 Ukrainian families who immigrated here prior to the war. Czechs, at least until the war started, were generally prejudiced against Ukranians, too, seeing them as poor, less educated and from a dysfunctional country. So, there's a lot of different sentiments that I perceive. What Gonzalo Lira said recently is: "Europe needs Russia". I think this is true. As you said above, this could translate into a new and more powerful Russian hegemony over Europe, since the EU countries are dependent on Russian resources (especially energy). On the other hand, realizing this dependence could simply lead to a more pragmatic and peaceful relationship between the EU and Russia as they realize their shared interests. I've heard it repeated many times that Russia has an economy the size of Italy. So, although it is a big country and it is true that "Europe needs Russia", Russia does not hold all the cards in the EU-Russian relationship.