Russia is NOT, and has NEVER BEEN a WESTERN COUNTRY.
First you do not define “western” -— What - western as in abortion, Nazism, porn, secular humanism, Marxism, etc.??
OR western as in Dostoyevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoy, Yevtushenko, Rostropovich, Chagall, Stravinsky, Rimsky Korsakov, etc etc.
Again, for many centuries, Russia had closer cultural/political relations with the east and south. Peter's aggressive westernization campaign was conducted due precisely to the fact that western Europe was emerging as the main political power, while its traditional allies to the south and east were either waning and/or being conquered by Russia.
Russians never historically saw themselves as part of the west. They were under neither the influence of Rome, nor under the Holy League. They developed a highly unique culture apart from the west.
The inclusion of Russia as part of the "west", only among a minority of scholars, was a late 19th century phenomenon. Tolstoy, the Russian nationalist to end all Russian nationalists, would have been appalled at being called a westerner.