It does matter tho, the argument that the pro-Russia crowd wants to make is that this is some new development pushed by a puppet government.
The reality is that Ukraine has always wanted cooperation with NATO.
Even before the “overthrow” of the Russia-friendly Ukrainian government, they were still in favour of NATO cooperation.
The simple fact is that the US isn’t goading Russia because it just doesn’t want a war in Ukraine.
I’ve seen a cartoon showing Russia and the NATO bases in the vicinity. The caption states something to the effect that the Russians have a lot of nerve putting their country next to all those bases.
It should be clear that the US runs NATO. Without the US there is no NATO. The simple test to see if the Russians are just paranoid or not is to imaging Russian missiles, possibly on drone subs, off the US coasts and the reaction to that from the US. I don’t think anyone needs to run that test again. Surfacing a drone sub in the middle of the Potomac might get some attention.
For the Europeans, Putin should station nuclear missile equipped subs around Great Britain, off the coast of Germany, France, etc, and do it flaunting international law if necessary to punctuate he’s not bluffing. Touch the subs and they go off. Then lets see how long the constant provocation that is the purpose of NATO lasts. All the diplomatic bullshit needs to be dispensed with.
I think Putin should announce to the world that Ukraine has 30 days to eliminate any offensive weapons on their territory or Russia will destroy them with stand off weapons, meaning no Russian troops involved. He should clearly indicate that the weapons will be destroyed regardless of who may be standing next to them or how many schools they quickly build around them. He should probably include Poland and any other country that he feels has become a NATO member after the US promised no expansion.
I think the people of Ukraine, Poland and any other nation then in the crosshairs might put some pressure on their “leaders” to back off. NATO becomes an instant liability to any right thinking individual.
BTW – I think NATO won’t survive this fiasco under any circumstances, even if there are no hostilities. I think the US constant bullying is wearing thin and there’s a change coming to lessen US influence in Europe.