I think geography is less relevant nowadays. Is having missiles on your doorstep that much different than having missiles that can travel across the world? And what about ships and subs, who also have these weapons. No one knows where the subs are.
Maybe a good question to ask would be what countries have NATO annexed? For Russia to think NATO would attack Russia, a nuclear power with an unstable leader, is ludicrous. Sure, they need to keep themselves secure, but destabilising Europe and causing a war is the opposite to giving themselves security.
Does anyone here think that NATO has the will, desire or inclination to do a land invasion of Russia? Then Russia has nothing to fear.
The truth is, that Russia wants to expand, and therefore, if countries join NATO, they have nowhere to expand to by force. Consequently, they oppose countries who want to join NATO, since they want to invade at some future date.
Just read his speech the other day. It is about what he considers catastrophic errors of previous administrations for giving away Ukraine etc. This war is nothing about NATO. It is all about imperialism.