I should have put that statement in context, because the specific advantages are almost incidental to what's actually going on. After the Cold War ended, everyone didn't just shake hands and go home. NATO is still around, it still has a supreme allied commander, it still has the same mandate to encircle Russia and other potential threats. Russia still doesn't like being surrounded by NATO countries and they're reaching out overseas for allies, trying to rebuild a buffer zone, and challenging NATO control in whatever region they can get away with. So while the practical benefits are true, and I tend to emphasize them because Russia is pretty pragmatic about expansionism, it's really as much about jockeying for position as anything else.
