“With central and eastern Europe being swallowed up progressively by NATO, Russia finds itself between Scylla and Charybdis—allow a buildup on its border, or act, for it has legitimate security concerns. On its border, Russia will soon have to endure the provocation of the NATO club, carrying out military maneuvers.”
What a bunch of bullshet. Does anyone believe that Russia is seriously concerned that NATO is going to invade the motherland? The very idea is absurd. Like the US being concerned about a military invasion from Canada.
And the Russians aren't stupid (at least this iteration of Russians). If they get a significant portion of their military tied down in the West, they open up their Eastern frontier (resource rich Siberia) to invasion by the Chicoms, who would like nothing better.
In that scenario, you have a third world nation (Russia) with a population of 140,000,000 defending a country that spans 8 time zones, with minimal infrastructure to move men and materiel in the Eastern most third, against a nation of something like 1.3 billion people.