[lalaland1125]

> The Russians are willing to go incredibly far to protect their borders from NATO.

Then it seems like Russia has made all the wrong decisions here. Even after Yanukovych was kicked out of power, the successor government had no interest in NATO until Russia invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Similarly, Finland and Sweden had almost zero interest in NATO until Russia did their full invasion of Ukraine this year.

Russia's actions simply make no sense under the theory that Russia is trying to protect their borders from NATO.

[lazide]

It does if you think like an abusive spouse. ‘Stop looking at the neighbor or I’ll beat you silly’ kinda looks like it works and all, until they sneak away anyway.

[DeathArrow]

>Then it seems like Russia has made all the wrong decisions here. Even after Yanukovych was kicked out of power, the successor government had no interest in NATO until Russia invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Ucraine applied to NATO in 2008.

[hnov]

Technically, Yanukovych was removed 2 days after the Russian invasion started.