Russia Ukraine war, page-241481

Russia never officially asked to join NATO.

correct
putin expressed interest but never followed through
but just as with the USSR ....that would just have been in order to attempt to subvert NATO ....provide the veto that would make it as powerless as the UN is
so would not have been allowed

until recent times NATO countries were fairly complacent ..... were doing big business with russia and wanted that to continue ....and were not inclined to spend much on defense in general .......but putin changed all that with this war

putin will be remebered as the man that reinvigorated NATO ....and caused two incredibly strategically imortant nations to join .
one of the many reasons this war by him was A GIGANTIC mistake