Well, it depends. Influence in international politics, internal politics, social progress, and culture are very different things. In terms of cultural influence, for example, the East has been very influenced by the West for some time with pop culture for instance, but recently, things turned around and the West is far more influenced by the East than the other way around. When you see young middle-class people in London, Paris or Amsterdam being obsessed with trying to look like working class Ukrainian, it is a bit of a strange feeling.
There is a lot of growing hype around places like Kyiv or Tbilisi, and it is annoying of course to witness cultural appropriation. Many young artists now go to Ukraine to shoot music videos even though they have nothing to say about the place and have absolutely no ties with it, just for the hype around it and what it represents. There is of course a very significant financial gap between Eastern and Western countries in Europe, so many young creatives from the East look up to the West when it comes to work opportunities and professional training.
That being said, because of the condescension that comes from the West, many do feel like it is time to bring their voice to the table, and they’re doing it brilliantly. For some time, the West was craving freedom and was obsessed with a fantasized version of what the West was like, and nowadays, I feel like it has changed a lot, which is good I think.