Regardless of where you are born, both sides in a war will try to claim they are acting justly, because your side needs to believe they’re in the right, and let’s be quite honest, you need a good reason to command the respect of men and ask them to die on your behalf for your cause.
Russia has an imperialist past as rich as any western nation.
Russia also has a very recent history of siding with Nazism over freedom (WW2), and it’s actions regarding its annexations under Putin, are extremely reminiscent of Hitler, as are the crimes the Russian army has done against the civilian population - unless of course, you’re going to deny the horrors of Bakhmut and other locations Russia has terrorised in this conflict.
Putin hasn’t been shy in declaring his fondness of the USSR or been shy in declaring how shameful it was the USSR was dissolved - such declarations, indicate a leader who has every motive to restore such a legacy.
Of course, in order to do that, and to determine if that is true, we’d have to look to see if the invasion of Ukraine is a unique instance and that such a claim could be questioned or whether indeed, Russia has annexed and attacked other neighbouring states to achieve similar.
If you view Russian conflicts in recent history, not only will you see that Ukraine is far from Russia’s first victim, but you will also see that it has a massive list of nations it has become militarily involved in, similar to that of the USA.
If you are going to be intellectually honest, if you or anyone is going to condemn the USA for ‘protecting’ its interests by involving itself in a multitude of conflicts in distant areas of the globe, then the same condemnation must fall upon Russia, for its involvement has also been numerous and plenty.
It would seem further dishonest to deny this claim, because to do so, would be to deny the Cold War - which was exactly what both these ‘superpowers’ thrives on during that era.
When the USSR broke up, many saw that as the end of the Cold War, and it would seem that even if it didn’t end it completely, such hostilities between the former and the west subsided.
However did they ever really go away? I think not.
I don’t even necessarily think Russia has been in the wrong for the past 20 years, but there is one deal breaker in my eyes that sets Russias evil aside from anything the USA can be accused of.
And that quite simply is Russia’s continued imperialistic approach. You see I think we can all agree there are times the USA got it right in their international military involvement and times they really messed up, but never have they saught to steal land for themselves. They’ve backed foreign democracies which have failed but they’ ever thought to steal lands like thieves in the night and as blatantly as Russia has.
In all of this, Ukraine is a victim. Ukraine hasn’t bombed Russia or flown aircraft into the trade centres or Moscow. Ukraine didn’t annex Belgorod from Russia, like Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine. Ukraine handed over its nukes as a compromise that Russia and the USA would promise never to get involved - all of which happened in our lifetimes.
Russia under Putin has lied, and cheated and stolen from Ukraine since Putin came to power in 1999, and turned Russian guarantees into lies.
Former Soviet states carry the same recognised sovereignty as every other nation, be it Nigeria or the United Kingdom. Latvia, Georgia and Ukraine have every right to decide who they trade with, and what political form of government they have, and just like the US has been wrong to invade nations it’s opposed too, so to us Russia when it invaded Georgia and continues its Imperialism of these states.
You see, you have it backward, and a conversation with an Eastern European would make this very plain to you.
Former USSR states did not vote to leave the USSR because they enjoyed a peaceful and great life. They left the USSR because they wanted no part of it and the ability to choose their own destiny.
NATO is the only hope many of them have for that, and is why they saught ascension into NATO, because without it, many nations would have been conquered by Putin.
And if you don’t believe that, this is evidenced by Russia’s invasion of former states of USSR. Just look to Georgia, Crimea and Ukraine.
It’s not NATO’s expansionism that has threatened Russia. It is the fear of Russia under Putin, that has caused NATO to expand.