Putins inspiration lie in the Tsardom, so the Russian Empire rather than the Soviet Union. He did say it was a shame the Union collapsed but he was also the one responsible for moving the Romanovs to proper graves.
NATO at our border is a threat to national security, we should invade.
These sort of semantics cease to matter, once a population resists invasion and occupation. I've had a Swede or two in the past tell me "HEEEY how about you guys just subjugate right back to Swedish control, cus after all, we're SORT OF the same anyway, and we could be like - a big, mighty empire, taking care of each others =D" and it's like - no. No.
NATO at our border is a threat to national security, we should invade.