Rather late in the day, Russian nationalists, like Putrid Putin woke up to how the American-led West was nibbling away at its former sphere of influence over so much of E Europe over a twenty to thirty-year period. It started with the ending of the Cold War with Russia losing out, big time to the West as former Warsaw Pact countries changed sides and joined NATO and/or the EU. This must have been very hard for the Russian nationalists to swallow.
Russia's feelings in all this was never considered, I'm sure. Then, our (violent - over 100 killed) Revolution of Dignity in Maidan Sq was the last straw for Putrid and, the Russian separatists in the East of Ukraine who rose up in counter-revolt. Putrid took back Crimea in revenge. The West never protested and I thought that was hardly surprising when our side overthrew a pro-Russian President Yanukovych who had been properly and fairly elected in 2010.
I don't think we should have let them join the two big Western clubs. We should have said, 'Stay friends with all your neighbours, especially Russia and don't provoke them. The West cannot possibly give you everything you want out of respect for Russian feelings. And certainly don't poke the Big Bear.
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