>Nobody put any missiles in Eastern Europe. That's a worn-out Russian talking point that lacks any substance.
It doesn't lack substance. They seriously worry about that. And like I said, it is only half the story. Another huge issue for them is that US interests interfered in Ukrainian politics to destabilize relations with Russia, which was set to deprive them of bases that they were set to have in Ukraine. Another issue had to do with the Nazi leadership of Ukraine. Another had to do with shelling of Russian-speaking civilians in the Donbas and elsewhere in eastern Ukraine. The Nazism and attacks on civilians were covered by even the Western press until our side decided they wanted to fight a war in Ukraine. Then all of that information was brushed under the rug so that we could claim we were supporting the good guys.
Yes, it does. Nobody put missiles in Eastern Europe. That's a simple, irrefutable fact. Your salvo of similarly unsubstantiated Russian propaganda does not change that one bit.
> Cuba is not a blueprint. It's just a vaguely similar situation.
No, not even vaguely. The people who bring up the Cuban missile crisis are usually unaware that only nuclear missiles were removed from Cuba in the aftermath. Cuba did not become neutral or expel the Soviet military. Cuba remained allied with the USSR and continued to host a significant presence of Soviet conventional forces. If Cuba could host Soviet fighter jets less than 10 minutes from Miami for decades, then I don't see why Ukraine can't do the same.
That's a worn-out Russian talking point that lacks any substance. Nobody put any missiles in Eastern Europe.
And the Cuban missile crisis proves exactly the opposite of what you are trying to argue. I stress the name: MISSILE crisis. After nuclear missiles were removed, Cuba remained an ally of the USSR until its very end and continued to host conventional Soviet forces. The USSR equipped Cuba with weapons such as Koni-class frigates and SA-8 surface-to-air missile systems, gave them hundreds of T-55 and T-62 tanks, stationed Soviet bombers and fighter jets in Cuba, and used Cuban ports to conduct exercises such as sailing missile cruisers like Admiral Isakov within 50 miles of the Mississippi coast in the 1980s. The cooperation, including visits by Russian warships to Cuban ports with exercises 30 miles off the Florida coast, continues to this day: https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/history/2024/06/12/rus...
If Cuba is a blueprint for you, then you have nothing to complain about. Even full members of NATO do not receive this level of support from the alliance.