[…] And the key element in that strategy of course, is NATO expansion. And in my story, it all goes back to the April 2008 decision at the NATO summit in Bucharest where it was said that both Georgia and Ukraine would become part of NATO. The Russians made it manifestly clear at the time that this was unacceptable, that neither Georgia nor Ukraine were going to become part of NATO. And in fact, the Russians made it clear that they viewed this as an existential threat. Very important to understand those words. From the Russian point of view from the get go, this was perceived as an existential threat. Lots of people in the West do not believe it is an existential threat to the Russians, but what they believe is irrelevant because the only thing that matters is what Putin and his fellow Russians think, and they think it is an existential threat. Läs artikel
