I still can't believe that people are screaming that Putin wants the old USSR back. It's completely mind boggling that anyone could believe this crap in this day and age.
It's very easy to figure out who on this planet has been the aggressor in many conflicts lately. And it's not been Putin. If anyone wants to break into a cold sweat about dangers that different countries might be posing, how about Turkey now under Erdogan having the largest stash of NATO's nukes.
Erdogan is a complete madman.
But then there is real world, filled with real facts.
Fact: Putin lamented USSR's dissolution as the biggest tragedy. To say that he doesn't, that he moved on and forgot all about it is to contradict his own words.
Fact: Crimea, just short 2 years ago was annexed by (carefully un-marked) Russian forces, while Russian puppet leadership was being upended in Kiev..
Maybe Putin doesn't want Ukraine and other ex-USSR satellites back, but he does want them to be under his thumb, proxying to Europe. Crimea was a warning shot for rejecting him and looking to the west.