Russia, if given its druthers, would be imperialist, but since it presently doesn’t, it presently isn’t. Putin tried to join NATO once, to join the imperialist club, but that was rejected, because the US wanted Russia Balkanized & plundered instead. Russia has figured out it’s better off allying with Global South countries than attempting imperialist adventures upon them. And this war has accelerated that allyship.

In fact, they’re only seizing Ukrainian territory to add to their own, because of the United States. And that somehow negates any aspect of Russian imperialism.

If history started in February of 2022, you might think that.

Reuters, 2014: Leaked audio reveals embarrassing U.S. exchange on Ukraine, EU
Leaked recording between Nuland and Pyatt: audio | transcript
Counterpunch, 2014: US Imperialism and the Ukraine Coup
BBC, 2014: Ukraine underplays role of far right in conflict
Human Rights Watch, 2014: Ukraine: Unguided Rockets Killing Civilians
Consortium News, 2015: The Mess That Nuland Made Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland engineered Ukraine’s regime change without weighing the likely consequences.
The Hill, 2017: The reality of neo-Nazis in Ukraine is far from Kremlin propaganda
The Guardian, 2017: 'I want to bring up a warrior': Ukraine's far-right children's camp – video
George Washington Univ., 2017: NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
WaPo, 2018: The war in Ukraine is more devastating than you know
Reuters, 2018: Ukraine’s neo-Nazi problem
The Nation, 2019: Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine
openDemocracy, 2019: Why Ukraine’s new language law will have long-term consequences
Al Jazeera, 2022: Why did Ukraine suspend 11 ‘pro-Russia’ parties?
Orinoco Tribune, 2022: Former German Chancellor Merkel Admits that Minsk Peace Agreements Were Part of Scheme for Ukraine to Buy Time to Prepare for War With Russia
Jacobin, 2022: A US-Backed, Far Right–Led Revolution in Ukraine Helped Bring Us to the Brink of War
Consortium News, 2023: The West’s Sabotage of Peace in Ukraine Former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett’s recent comments about getting his mediation efforts squashed in the early days of the war adds more to the growing pile of evidence that Western powers are intent on regime change in Russia.
NYT, 2024: U.N. Court to Rule on Whether Ukraine Committed Genocide
History of Fascism in Ukraine: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

Well that makes sense, because I know one thing about Russia, and that it’s definitely not a stitched together country of conquered and subjugated people’s.

If you want to dig up ancient history like this, then that describes just about every European country, so I’m not sure what your point is.

Edit to add: inb4 NATO is a defensive alliance.

Counterpunch, 2020: The U.S. Did Not Defeat Fascism in WWII, It Discretely Internationalized It
The Intercept, 2021: Meet NATO, the Dangerous “Defensive” Alliance Trying to Run the World
CounterPunch, 2022: NATO is Not a Defensive Alliance
Noam Chomsky, 2023: NATO “most violent, aggressive alliance in the world”
Thomas Fazi, 2024: NATO: 75 years of war, unprovoked aggressions and state-sponsored terrorism