“The only territory annexed is Crimea and it wasn’t in 2000s. And if you do research you’d realize why.
It doesn’t make Russia an enemy of US though.”
Never claimed it happened in the 2000s - and no, not just Crimea, Donbass as well.
We’re used as Russia’s boogeyman by Putin for propaganda reasons, quite clearly, but they are a threat to Europe primarily and the free world in general, not just US.
They are a belligerent nation run by their version of the “Mafia” - a criminal cabal that uses welfare to buy votes while siphoning Russia’s resources into their crony oligarchs.
Their brain drain is through the roof - China’s educated elite come back to the country after studying overseas - Russia’s educated elite stay the heck out of there once they get away.
Putin’s regime imprisons everyone running against him while maintaining fear through kills dissenting journalists. His criminal reach spiders throughout Europe, Britain and Germany being recent places of incident.
If they are an enemy of the free world and our allies, they are an enemy of the US.
I won’t argue your every point because it would take too long.
Bottomline is a great deal of societies and Russia included could have had much more competitive political systems if not for the foreign interests actively attempting to buy opposition.
It is a tough choice for them because it is universally recognized that free political systems are more successful all around.
Unfortunately, it can’t be applied to nominally free systems but with groups in power controlled by foreign interests. The idea of competitive political system is to apply different ideas on how to run the country better and for the populace to decide who are doing better by their vote. It simply doesn’t work if one or several competing political groups has foreign interests in mind.
For a group in charge with a patriotic agenda there is a choice to accept the related loss of sovereignty by allowing such opposition or to softly suppress them.
As I said earlier it is a tough choice but you can’t blame them.
You put the the beginning of looting Russia at the start of Putin’s term but the real looting was exactly before with foreign-owned group in charge.
And there was nothing democratic and free about. Everyone outraged at Putin regime jailed two people accused of beating policemen during recent protest.
In 1993 Yeltsyn regime gunned down 1000 protestors and then shelled Congress with artillery for impeaching him. He usurped power and stolen the election and nominal economy shrinked 100 fold during his presidency with median incomes shrinking to $63 a month. The West praised him.
That’s how democracy and your version of ‘free election’ worked there.