For seasoned watchers of Russia’s foreign and security policy, these narratives [of Russia as the enemy of the West] cover familiar ground, researcher Samuel Ramani says. But they also encapsulated Russia’s campaign to blame the West for instigating the Ukraine war as well as its efforts to align with China against the threat of U.S. unilateralism in the Asia-Pacific region and pander to popular narratives about Western misconduct in the Middle East and North Africa.