There seems to be a certain disconnect in the debates about the use of sanctions to control Russian intervention in affairs in Ukraine. The prevailing view in the US is that the threat of economic and political isolation from the western dominated structures of globalization will so traumatize the Russian collective psyche that they will knuckle under. I think that there is another way to look at it. There is a plausible interpretation that much of Russia views its growing global connections as corrupting of national integrity. In this regard they has logical connections to right wing parties in Western Europe such as UKIP in the UK and the Front Nationale in France. There are common themes of being anti-globalization and anti-immigrant. The difference is that it is a majority view in Russia.
With the collapse of the USSR there was a strong effort to pull Russia into the embrace of capitalism with the shock doctrine and privatization. During the presidency of Boris Yeltsin the economy degenerated into chaos. Stabilization coincided with Putin's first term as president. Since then there had been increasing economic connections with the EU and various initiatives were undertaken to facilitate more of it. People in the west were envisioning a day when Russia would become one more member state in an ever expanding EU. About the time that the EU began to hit serious rough spots in the economic road, people in Russia began to put up resistance to this drift.
The driving force behind the movement has been Russian nationalism and the long standing obsession with national identity. Similar nationalistic themes are driving opposition to the EU in other European countries, but those movements have not so far managed to gain the political upper hand. This nationalism, as is so often the case, gets mixed up with strains of xenophobia and racism. It may be possible to have a strongly nationalistic movement without it becoming essentially fascist, but history doesn't offer a lot of examples. Part of the intense nationalism is a push for isolation from corrupting foreign influences. That seems to be clearly happening with Russia. Here are a couple of current examples of the trend.
US-Russia Tension Threatens GPS System
The tensions between the American and Russian space program have ratcheted up another notch. In retaliation for a US ban on certain high-tech exports, Russia is refusing for their rockets to be used in military launches, and is threatening GPS base stations used in geodetic research.
Putin has also made serious proposals for separating Russia from the global internet which is presently US dominated and controlled. Here's another example that has less far reaching consequences, but still reflects a basic attitude of isolation.
RUSSIA TO CREATE THEIR OWN DRAG QUEEN-FREE EUROVISION
After Conchita Wurst's decisive victory at this year's Eurovision, Russian lawmakers decided to take their ball and go home and form their own talent competition, free from the corrupting influences of Austrian drag queens. Said Communist Party deputy Valery Rashkin,
The last Eurovision contest's results exhausted our patience. We must leave this competition. We cannot tolerate this endless madness.
Meanwhile the country's advisory Slavic Committee said in a statement,
Conchita Wurst's Eurovision victory symbolises the complete collapse of the European Union's moral values. We do not need Europe!
Because when everyone else disagrees with you, the problem is obviously with everyone else. Rashkin is pushing for a competition called "Voice of Eurasia" which would primarly consist of nations from the former Soviet Union. It will no doubt be precious to behold.
Putin has been highly successful politically in exploiting the sentiments of Russian nationalism. There doesn't seem to be much question that his policies enjoy majority support. It seems likely that he has strategic visions of building an anti-western alliance with the other BRICS nations. There are many questions about the practical feasibility of such a course. One domestic problem for Putin is that Russian nationalist may not be any more enthusiastic about consorting with Chinese and Brazilians than they are about Austrian drag queens.