> Russia wanted to join nato, but nato wouldn't let them.
That's not true. You will not find a single law approved by Russian Duma that sets it as a foreign policy goal like in countries that did choose to join NATO.
Putin, at least, says he wanted to join NATO back in 2000 (according to the Stone interview). But he put it, "the U.S. delegation got very nervous."
Granted this was well before his total Machtergreifung, and he definitely was not equated with "Russia" at the time like he is now. But that's his telling of events, in any case.
