The recent electoral upheaval in Moscow and the Kremlin’s response to it have led to a wave of xenophobic jingoism, and filled the Russian public discourse with ethnocentrist and conspiratorial ideas. Russian officials have been more ardently espousing anti-Western ideas, and some high posts are now occupied by outspoken critics of an alleged U.S.-inspired plot against Russia. While these developments are worrying, success of the current Russian attempt to redemocratize would eventually imply a new rapprochement between Moscow and the West.