This is sort of a white man's burden argument.

From the Russian perspective, the US promised not to expand NATO eastwards in return for allowing German unification. While Russia was weak, NATO ignored the promise, but miscalculated after Russia strengthened.

Ultimately, you need to understand the Russia reasons, and they had been threatening war since 2008 when Bush announced Ukraine could become a NATO member.

If you rely on Western sources to interpreted Eastern motives, you end up with rubbish like "they hate us for our freedoms".