[BrandoElFollito]

As a French, I upvote :) Very good summary.

One thing though about the cultural closeness. It really depends on the generation.

For young people Russia is an unknown land they do not hear about (well, until the war). They are closer to the US culture, but not that specifically - I think it is difficult to speak of a culture in their c'est, it is very international and oriented to internet.

Older folks were actually quite close to Russian culture, at least the idealized one. Not that much to the US one.