The argument was made, even before the Russian invasion, that Vladimir Putin was being driven by fear of NATO expansion and was seeking a neutral buffer to protect his country. While Putin doubtless disliked the idea that Ukraine could enter NATO, this was not his real motive. Ukrainian membership was never imminent. NATO expansion was not a plot hatched in Washington, London, or Paris to drive the alliance as far east as possible. It was driven by the former satellites of the former USSR, which had been dominated by that country since 1945 and were convinced that Russia would try to do so again once the balance of power turned to Russia’s favor.I can't be alone in remembering that the free world never accepted the Soviet annexation of the Baltic nations. No frickin' wonder they'd clamor for entry into NATO as soon as the Iron Curtain collapsed into rusty flakes. Also don't forget that it took the Kremlin's state security organs well into the Fifties to stamp out the last armed resistance in the Ukrainian SSR.
.
