Comment by kornhole

These are mostly statements from other people rather than Kremlin officials speaking in any official capacity. I am sure some people in Russia in high positions of power fascinate about a greater Russia. The problem as I tried to explain is that Russia already has a massive country but not enough people to tap its massive natural wealth. Taking over other countries is a massive drain and doomed to fail when that population does not want to be ruled by another country. It simply makes no rational sense for RF to forcibly overtake other European countries. Ukraine conflict was forced upon them. They may debilitate the current government in Kiev, but they will not ultimately take over all the country that includes the staunch anti Russian Ukrainian population. That is called swallowing a porcupine.