On May 4, Ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Artyom Bulatov declared that Western countries have initiated a new “iron curtain” aimed at isolating Russia.
Bulatov stated: “Westerners are building a new iron curtain with energy worthy of better use, trying to make irreversible the disruption of socio-economic, trade, transport, interpersonal, cultural and historical ties that have been built in the region not even for years, but for centuries.”
