Years later, I think I understood what he was trying to say although I'm not sure that I could put it into any better words.
Those countries might have been controlled by the Soviet Union, but the people did not believe that they were controlled by it. The culture was not dominated by Russia even as it was being oppressed by that nation. They were their own peoples, and they weren't going away. They wouldn't be absorbed by the domineering Soviets. At least, that's what I think the point was.
And what puzzles me is why Ford thought that point was so important to make in a presidential debate.