[JanSolo]

I think you're being facetious here. NATO expansion was Russias stated cause of the Ukrainian Conflict. However, Putin's statements since then have made it clear that the real objective is more of an ideological one. He wants to expand and build into a sort of neo-russian empire. Ukraine was considered the easiest target because of the ongoing Donbass conflict. However it could easily have been Georgia, Khazakstan, Azerbaijan or others.