For what its worth I don't intend it as a rhetorical method, it really does seem like a disconnect from what I'm familliar with. My experience living in europe is that when I do meet folks from romania/poland/lithuania/estonia etc are viruently anti-russia, and pro eu/nato - almost disconcertingly so. Especially because they see their own governments as corrupt (I can't say whether they are right) and seem to look to these other organisations to save them from that.

I don't know what point that serves, but I do find it difficult to see membership as something imposed on them. If they weren't allowed to join, I don't really know where that would go?