and how did that happen, didnt the NATO promise Gorbatchev that they wont expand to the former Warsaw Pact? Oh snap
You are aware that NATO practically lay dormant ...until Putins ambitions and aggression awoke it , right?
Lets recap real quick
These are ALL the conflicts russia has been involved in
post 1991
POST-SOVIET CONFLICTS
-Nagorno-Karabakh
-1st South Ossetia 1st Abkhazia
-Transnistria
-Tajikistan
-North Ossetia
- Armenia–Azerbaijan border
- 2nd Abkhazia
- Russo-Georgian War
-Eastern Tajikistan
NATO/US closed their eyes on what was going on in all of those. It was not until Russia had invaded Ukraine and started propping up Assad in Syria( I do not know who is right or wrong in that conflict) did the NATO begin to reassert its dominance.
You have to understand that the NATO isnt creeping up, but countries
voluntary choose to join NATO. Countries who are aware that they might be invaded next. The Balts(ppl living in Baltic countries) still remember 1939-1940 when they were occupied by the Russians. And there is still a ton of russians living in the Baltic states, who are still loyal to russia(ex: Latvia , 25% are russians) and watch that propagandist junk, so ofc the Latvians are scared another Crimea could happen and they could be next.
But im sure the russians wont whack any NATO state but any country that isnt a part of NATO is risking invasion.
P.S. I did not include the two Chechen wars because those conflicts are um... more complicated.