[sgbuffett]

Before that Russia invaded Georgia and took control of 20% of their territory.

Apparently Putin feels that certain areas jn Ukraine georgia and neighboring states belong to Russia and were improperly included in various countries when Soviet Union collapsed


Using NATO expansion  as a excuse is more believable. propaganda ...but these countries were joining NATO mainly because they were afraid of Russian aggression. But this is a story easy to sell to those who hate the west...and easily fall prey to the Russian propaganda. One group is China fan boys because of Xi friendship with Putin they go and support Russia.