Putin said he invaded Ukraine to stop NATO expanding. He is achieving the opposite.

The NATO military alliance would be stopped from expanding if Russia invaded Ukraine, argued President Putin. The plan seems to have backfired.

NATO's eastward expansion is a threat to Russia's national security, according to Putin.

Georgia and Ukraine, which are both bordering Russia, want to join the bloc.

Putin launched his invasion after NATO refused to rule out allowing Ukraine to join the alliance.

The attack shifted the balance of power in Europe and caused two formerly neutral countries to join NATO.

Sweden and Finland formally submitted their applications on Wednesday, ending decades of careful neutrality meant to appease Russia.

The bloc will grow from 30 to 32 members and double the length of Russia's border with NATO states if NATO approves Sweden and Finland's application.

There was a consequence to renewing existing NATO members. Germany, one of the bloc's leading powers, tore up decades of defense policy by increasing military spending to 2% of GDP, a huge increase that creates new problems for Russia.

The threat of nuclear war was invoked by Putin and his officials when they first heard about Sweden and Finland being in NATO.

As the applications became reality, their position changed completely, and on Monday Putin claimed not to care about NATO getting bigger.

The Russian leader achieved the opposite of what he wanted.