Bungi Bill, exactly; the communist block was not monolithic and also changed through the time when relationship among countries run by communist parties were outright hostile. How I know? I lived there. In the 1948 till 1963 Yugoslavia was considered an enemy country. Yugoslav citizens and serb-croatian (or slovenian, bosniak, montenegrin) were regularly hunted down, arrested, and expelled back to their native country. This happened to large Croat and Serbian population that lived in Czechoslovakia around 1953. My friend was half Croat and half Czech and she lived in her childhood in Yugoslavia where they were expelled even when she was born in Prague. Between 1956 and 1960 both Poland and Hungary were considered as a enemy countries by communists and it was not possible to travel there. Later this was the case for Czechoslovakia which was off limit for many Soviets and East Germans in 1967-1970 due its Prauge Springs and subsequent occupation. Communist parties aligned with Moscow were scared of liberal communism of Prague. In 1960's many people in the Soviet block hoped for a war between China and USSR, because they belived that much more populous China will defeat USSR and occupy most of Russia which would shake the grip it had over several Eastern Block states. This was also official position of Romanian and Czechoslovak government in the 1968. In the 1980's it was difficult travel to Poland and I remember how it was impossible to secure a travel permit there due coup. Anyone who claims that Eastern Block was monolithic, unified region under one political will that would resemble world power mentioned in Bible should little do research on how the reality was there during the Cold Ward.
Today's Russia is far from successfull state and it continues to lose its grip on its neighbors. Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova singed associated treaty with EU. Baltic states are in NATO and every satellite country of Moscow as well. Considering centrifugal forces within Russia proper like in Caucasus, they will be lucky to hold on territory within its border. Further strain between the West and Russia would deteriorate its demise and will whip out all the progress what Russia had since 1995. Twenty years of rebuilding would be gone. They gambled on nationalism like did earlies Serbs and 75 years ago Germans and they will not win.