Not deciding, but being told to do so by Germany who is infiltrated by Russians at every level of government, industry, and media. Allowing Germany to unify and giving the keys to the future of Europe to Germany was the biggest mistake the USA and Britain made after 1989.
The same move could have had a completely different outcome so it is hard to lay the blame with the USA and Britain. A unified Germany unlocked Poland and the Baltics as well as the Balkans, Romania and even Bulgaria. It did not work out quite as planned because Putin went mad but it could have worked if Russia focused on creation rather than destruction for a while. But with people that power hungry ratio goes right out the window.
Nothing will go "as planned" in that part of the world for as long as individual states like Germany will be signing agreements with Russia without consultation or participation of the Eastern European states. The problem of Western Europe is that they look at Eastern European countries as "lesser", former dependencies and haven't accepted them as equal partners.
Yes, that's a very valid point, the Western countries in the EU do not properly value the input from their Eastern colleagues on these matters. It's a very annoying thing. I have spent a good chunk of my life East of Berlin both before and after the wall came down and I have zero illusions about the situation at the moment. The question is how long it will take the rest of Europe to wake up to the new reality and it is incredible how lax the response has been so far. You'd think that they would get the message by now but all we get is half-assed measures.
