The “Soviets” were merely the Russian empire that Russia was holding as slaves.
East Germany no longer exists, while Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and every one of Russia’s other erstwhile Warsaw Pact partners are now members of NATO. So are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which in 1989 were parts of the Soviet Union itself.
Those members of the Soviet forces forces facing NATO. switched to NATO as soon as their chains came off, now they are part of our voluntary defensive military alliance against Russia.
What you just wrote is why I think the Soviet Union would have collapsed anyway. Too many countries and Republics were not happy being a part of it. Also, too many Russians were tired of it too.