To his credit, it is true that the EU has almost no cultural and scientific cooperation with Russia in the last 10 years. It is not an "Associate Country" and thus you don't meet Russians in artistic residencies, universities etc. They are only used as political tool when a flavour of opposition can be detected (and invited to a famous film or theatre festival).
Not to say that life is pink in Russia, but they did have a political life that was made even more difficult by permanent provocations and the escalation of the neocons.