I’d say it’s fairly obvious what Putin wants and it’s to not have NATO right up against his borders. He says it and acts on it. His stance and responses have been consistent in Georgia and now Ukraine. He’s not the great inscrutable enigma and master strategist that some make him out to be.
The same reason the PRC props up the DPRK, as a buffer (I know South Korea isn’t in NATO, but you get my point).
