Russia Ukraine war, page-221209

Not just Russia wanted to join. If the USSR joined, there would not have been a need for NATO, but that would have destroyed the ongoing project based on the premise, 'we know what's best for the rest of the world.'

In May 1954 the Western powers rejected the Soviet proposal to join NATO on grounds that the USSR's membership of the organization would be incompatible with its democratic and defensive aims.

Molotov's Proposal that the USSR Join NATO, March 1954 | Wilson Center