Western Europe most certainly has good cause to feel 'threatened' by Russia
Imagine if this was Western Europe being crept up on by a communist military alliance?
how would Western Europe feel?
now - 'actually LOOK' at the map and the dates
(Warsaw Pact 1955- 1968)
The Russians never "released" the nations their armies occupied during WW2, apart from Austria and Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was mostly under the control of Tito rather than the Russian Army, and, after 10 years of occupation, Austria was finally given independence on condition that it remained "neutral" (even today, it is not a member of NATO).
After occupying Eastern Europe for over 10 years, the other countries were forced to join the Warsaw Pact. Only when the Soviet empire collapsed did those countries truly gain their independence.
Your hero, Vlad, is on record as saying that collapse was a "catastrophe".
This map includes bits of Finland that, to this day, are occupied by Russia.
Russia still occupies Konigsberg (Kaliningrad). Whether you think it should be Polish, German, or whatever, is kind of a moot point: There is no doubt that it is not Russian.
Vlad's Russia, though no longer the "Soviet Union", is still an aggressive power seeking to reclaim it's position as a Global Power. Vlad will crush any attempt to block it's path.
