being a model of prosperous democracy with westward leanings towards the e.u. and any toe. that example of a successful ukraine is simply too powerful and too close to moscow and would be a direct threat to the putin regime. so he wants to avoid that. this in the process he can gain strategic depth by securing relationships with belarus, ukraine, georgia, kazakhstan, around his periphery that provides him space, time and space, from nato, that's also to his advantage. most important, he will look for opportunities to divide the alliance, to split the 30 member s of nato, some pro, some con, with different courses of action. back to our point about putin being an opportunist. he will look for those opportunities to divide us.