Comment by Paradigma11

When the west negotiated with Gorbachev the Warshaw Pact was still existing. Everybody had big problems on their hand and nobody thought about NATO membership of nations that still were part of the Pact.

It is not about agreeing/disagreeing. If you publicly cancel a claim you no longer have it.

But just listen to what local Russian politicians/media tell their people and what Russians think. They are very comfortable with their imperial/colonial agenda and all these discussions/arguments we are having are primarily for western consumption. Read the propagandist narratives that Russia put out for the winter war or Hitler with the Sudeten Germans. You could just change the names and many pamphlets would fit right in current Russian propaganda.

Russia will always say everything and let people in the west sift through it to find things that fit the various agendas. In the end Russia will have more than it did before like in Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea, Donbas and the invasion they are running right now.