My visit to Moscow was not beginning well. For several hours at the airport I had been handed from official to official, each peering at my passport and visa with equal amounts of incredulity and scepticism. But here I was, finally in front of a man who seemed to have ultimate authority over whether I would be allowed through customs or packed off home on the first available flight.

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What left him most unimpressed was the fact I had been to Ukraine recently and often, the undeniable evidence stamped in cold hard print across my passport. “Why do you go there?” he asked. “Do you not love Russia?” It took some further negotiation before he let me on my way. But it struck me on one level the officer was right; it was unusual for anyone to visit Kyiv and Moscow in the space of a few months. So how do the two capitals differ after more than four years of fighting?