"We will not stop at Kyiv, Warsaw, Paris. We will stop when we feel secure."
What is security for Russia? The destruction of NATO?
Russia has been living in "counteraction and struggle" with external "bad enemies" for a very long time. This is how the Russian government consolidates society and explains all the problems to it.
Russians can't trust. They grow up in a culture where corruption is common and lies more prevalent than reality. The only way a Russian can ever trust a thing is to do it themselves. The only other option is to remove anyone else who can do it better and then claim the advance as a Russian victory.
Russia can't be trusted by anyone anymore. Russians will be out for themselves, as they always are.
Historically, their brand of propaganda is rooted in almost millennia-long trauma the Russian people have suffered since Genghis Khan took over Russia back in the 1200's, and other assholes have tried to invade them before.
Their way of dealing with it was to expand to have large swaths of land between them and anyone who'd try again. It's why Russia is the largest country in the world by land area but only small parts of that land are actually developed.
Then just die of fright you absolutely cowards, if you think that defending hospitals, schools and civilian apartment buildings is a threat to Russia then just die. If you think a free and honest press is a threat to your government then just die because no sane person will look at your actions and let you continue unabated
Only Russian aggression has made Russia insecure. Because now their borders are disputed.
Russia could have been perfectly secure, by just being a decent neighbor, and not invade other countries.
There was some interesting, supposedly intelligence chatter during the Crimea invasion, that russia was willing to go as far as nuke warsaw to hold their claims. There was discussion that in the cold war in the 1950’s, russia was a victor, and responding from a position of strength - but the men ruling today come from a collapsed country and feel the need to do whatever it takes to feel respected.