after the fall of the soviet union. but it's a highly disputed history and there is no question that the west pressed its advantage. george h. w. bush, you know, wanted not only wanted to reunite germany, but he also realized that there were countries in eastern europe, in the baltic states, that had historical reasons for wanting to be in nato. security reasons. russia, obviously, was in a position of weakness. and right now, putin seeks to reverse what he sees us the disastrous negotiations by gorbachev, and then boris yeltsin. yes, there were political reasons for wanting to do this too. what is the new real legacy of putin if after all these years in history and great success economically? no.