Russia was willing to let Ukraine be. Does that sound imperialistic to you?
If you want to see imperialism, that comes from the West. We couldn’t let it be, so we made moves to expand towards Russia. We are the imperialists.
But we’re the good guys right? We can do whatever we want and we are the good guys, no matter what we do. Nobody is allowed to respond to us, because they become the bad guy.
When? In 2014 Ukraine was moving to join the EU, Putin seized Crimea.
Then Putin started and backed a separatist war in Ukraine.
Then in 2022 Putin invaded all of Ukraine.
Yes, that sounds imperialistic to me.
NO, russia is an imperialistic nation for invading an independent country and seizing its territory.
Sure, voluntary defensive pacts against an imperialistic Russia that invades its neighbors(Ukraine and Georgia), makes us the "imperialists". Okay