The NATO and the EU didn't keep expanding, the Eastern European countries asked to join. They wanted protection from potential Russian aggression (in retrospect

The NATO and the EU didn't keep expanding, the Eastern European countries asked to join. They wanted protection from potential Russian aggression (in retrospect it is obvious how right they were), they wanted prosperity for their citizens. None of these countries were any threat to Russia. The whole Putin narrative that the West is at fault for this war by encroaching on a Russian sphere of influence is just incoherent bullshit. I also reject your 'both sides' argument. At least from a German perspective I know that European didn't do things 'against' Russia for the last 15 years that weren't clearly as a response to Russian wrong-doing (East Ukraine, Crimean, Syria). Heck, just one month ago Germany wanted to open another Gas pipeline with Russia.