fueled by an unfortunate self-perpetuating symbiosis of a large portion of the population being nationalistic being catered to by an equally nationalistic autocrat…
Not all nationalisms are equal. Russia’s nationalism has invaded 0 countries, and has like 4 external military bases that are holdovers from the USSR. I’m showing you a picture of dozens of NATO bases used to launch invasions and encroachments for Euro-american chauvinist interests, like as @yogthos mentioned, in Yugoslavia, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq.
How many countries has Russia since the 1990s, compared to NATO?