True, but it has always been a part of the Russian mind set that they are a master race and have a full right to veto their neighbors sovereignty, by force if necessary. Although saying this we must remember that not all who live inside Russian borders truly consider themselves Russian. It’s a big country with a large ammount of different ethnicities. Many that are treated like second rate citizens or even subhumans. There are “Russians” and then there are Russians. In this case I’d take the innocence of the common man with a grain of salt.