The disappearance of the Soviet empire in December 1991 is part of the political earthquake of the opening of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. The abolition of the ‘shame wall’, which paved the way for the reconciliation of Europe, gave rise to a shock wave which ended the so-called ‘popular democracies’ and the USSR’s domination over these states. It has been a tremendous factor in accelerating developments in the Soviet Union and has disrupted the relationship with the outside world of post-Soviet Russia. Since 1991, the latter has been transformed: the Cold War is over and the world is no longer bipolar; the post-Soviet space was no longer the entity that it was the time of the USSR; post-Soviet Russia has established ‘strategic’ partnerships with its opponents yesterday, in the West (United States, European Union) and East (China); Russian society has opened up abroad and its influence. These changes in turn have had an impact on life and the perception of borders, which have become synonymous with openness and opportunities and have also led to disarray.