Everybody is doing lots of mind reading when it comes to Putin. What the piece outlines though is that Putin didn’t have a big problem with the NATO expansion while it happened (provided that the depiction is factually correct ofc), while he clearly did have a problem with Ukraine becoming democratic and losing its pro Russia leadership. Also, as is explained, there was no risk whatsoever that Ukraine actually would have joined the NATO for the foreseeable future. To me, drawing the conclusions that the piece draws appears to be more than mind reading. It’s rather putting one and one together.