Ukraine

Yes they or Putin chose the opposite path already in 1991, and Putin is KGB himself, I thought the new name was GRU?
It's very clear Putin thought he was clever and thought he could pave the way for his empire building, using old KGB tactics to create divisions in EU and USA and NATO. Unfortunately too many Americans are buying into it, but I imagine it will eventually fail anyway. And Russia will become marginalized for decades. Luckily EU is generally not buying it, apart from Hungary and Slovakia.