the eu was happy trading with russia and normalizing relations, then russia chimped out, multiple times in fact (transnistria, chechnya, georgia, ukraine 2014 and again ukraine 2022). if you didnt want your neighbours to run to nato for protection maybe you shouldn't give them a reason to do so, even sweden and finland that have been historically neutral parties for the entire cold war were pushed into nato after 2022. the world would be in a much better place, including russia, if they didn't invade in 2022.
Unknown