This is so delusional. The Eastern oblasts were prevented from declaring independence for years based on Russian pressure. Russia doesn't want Ukraine, they just don't want NATO setting up shop on their borders. The same way the US would never tolerate China setting up shop in Northern Mexico or Southern Canada. NATO has spent the years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union breaking all of their assurances to Russia that it would not expand, literally encircling them.
>> Russia is restoring its unity - the tragedy of 1991, this terrible catastrophe of our history, its unnatural dislocation, has been overcome
I suggest you read the article i think you’ll find the word NATO doesn’t even appear in it.
> they just don't want NATO setting up shop on their borders
Then they have already failed as the Russian border with NATO is now longer then it would be if you included Ukraine and Ukraine isn’t even in NATO.
I don’t think it was this though as Germany gave Russia assurances before the war that they would veto Ukraines NATO application.
> NATO has spent the years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union breaking all of their assurances to Russia that it would not expand, literally encircling them.
There was never any formalised agreement to not expand NATO, so no promise was ever made.
Regardless of that Russia has multiple international agreements with Ukraine (that are formalised) that say they will never threaten their sovereignty.
Why doesn’t Russia have to follow those?.
Another question one might ask is why Russias neighbours want to join NATO it’s probably because Russia has invaded nearly all of them at some point in time.
Seems pretty reasonable to me to want to defend yourself from what at this point seems like a likely future invasion,
The word NATO appeared in every diplomatic negotiation about the Donbas preceding and subsequent to the war. Don't waste people's time with nonsense-- I can find an article in US media that also puts forward every conceivable position if I try hard enough.
>Regardless of that Russia has multiple international agreements with Ukraine (that are formalised) that say they will never threaten their sovereignty.
Why doesn’t Russia have to follow those?.
You mean like the Minsk accords that Zelensky failed to implement? The Ukrainian people put their faith in him to end the war, but he caved to the Right. Turns out actors don't make good presidents, as we know in the US as well.
https://harpers.org/archive/2023/10/the-tragedy-of-volodymyr...
Should tell the Russians that they seem to think the war in Ukraine is about fixing the “mistake” of Ukraines independence.