The Soviet Union had its own version of NATO called the Warsaw Pact

Warsaw Pact nations were invaded twice during the Cold War, each time by the Soviet Union. A third invasion was only prevented by a military coup. There were also some more minor military incursions. The Warsaw Pact remains the only military alliance to invade itself.

After that the participating countries figured they had more to fear from Moscow than NATO, which they all joined as soon as they could.

They have. It is called the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). A member state can request security assistance from the other membership. A recent demonstration was the anti-government protests in Kazakhstan earlier this year. CSTO (mostly Russian) troops were invited by the government to breakup the protests.

Doubtful that China would ever join the CSTO. The Russian Federation insists on playing the role of kingmaker in any security alliance it is a part of.

Russia is afraid of NATO precisely because it had its own two-layered version of NATO. But when it stopped being able to force these countries in its orbit they fled and started protecting themselves against Russia. The outer layer of Russia’s equivalent to NATO during the cold war was called the Warsaw Pact.

Warsaw Pact countries, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Unlike NATO the Warsaw Pact did not protect the member countries from being invaded;

• Hungary was invaded by the USSR in 1956 for attempting to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact
• Czechoslovakia was invaded by the USSR, Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary in 1968; Albania promptly withdrew.
• Romania managed to achieve de facto independence (and wasn’t invaded).

By contrast France left NATO in 1966 and there were few major consequences. (This isn’t to say the US didn’t practice regime changes via Operation Condor - or invade countries in its neighbourhood that did things it didn’t like like Cuba, Panama, and Granada; it just didn’t to NATO).

The upshot was that every single former Warsaw Block country outside the former USSR is now a member of NATO for protection from Russia.

The inner ring, of course, was the former USSR. Out of the former USSR the three “Baltic States” of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia also all joined NATO for protection from Russia; they knew what the former USSR was like. Russia has invaded both Georgia and Ukraine; precious little love there. So there really are few who’d join, and China would only as senior partner.

They did, it's call the Collective Security Treaty Organizations (CTSO). However unlike NATO, in its recent history, it's mostly been used to squash domestic unrest and tends to refuse calls to action when there are legitimate reasons. This can be seen in its deployment into Kazakhstan at the start of this year and it's rejection of Armenia request when Azerbaijan attacked the Republic proper*. In other words, the treaty started in the same vein as NATO- collective defense led by Russia (as opposed to America)- but now they are largely uninterested in protecting their member states from external aggression and are more fearful about internal threats.

*The treaty can only be triggered if Armenia proper was targeted not Nagorno Karabakh, which was a sticking point during the 2020 war.

If Russia is so afraid of NATO, why don’t they build their own NATO with ex-Soviet states and allies like China?

WOW!
Great Idea!!!!
Perhaps we should put this to a vote of all the ex Warsaw Pact countries…
You know, those ones that decided they’d had enough of the old USSR and would rather come over to where the air is cleaner, the water fresher, and the girls…
Well, let’s not go into that one for now!

Oh, DANGITALL…
They have all joined the west… (lots more fun over in the west).
(HECK… even China likes the west)!

Ah well, it looks like Russia will just have to make do with little old Belarus!

Not to worry, they have plenty of infantry between them and the meat grinders are working well!

Cheers.. Have a nice one!

In the days of the USSR, it was called the Warsaw Pact and ended when the USSR did.

NATO was from day one an alliance of those afraid of Stalin's USSR agreeing to act as an alliance to defend Europe if he attacked. It was never an alternate government or an unconditional alliance.

The Warsaw Pact was an alliance imposed on countries conquered by Russia and either added as Soviet Republics or dominated like Poland. Since there were no realistic conditions under which NATO would actually attack the USSR, it was never going to get tested. Since it was made up of coerced members, it was always questioned whether it would actually show up in a conflict or whether the members would use the opportunity to leave the USSR.

Russia today has sort of alliances with China and North Korea. Members of the Russian Federation are basically Russia for military purposes. Belarus is closely tied so is on Russia's side as seen in its willingness to let Russia cross its territory. It is unlikely Russia can build a NATO equivalent as no one believes Putin's paranoia or disinformation that NATO could ever attack Russia.

There is military cooperation between Russia and China but unfortunately each time they get close China starts stealing Russian military IP

In 2004, the Russia blocked the sale of both the Su-35 and Tupolev Tu-22M bombers to China over Chinese manufacturing parts for the Sukhoi Su-27SK, as opposed to the agreed purchase from Russia.

In September 2018, Russia invited China to it's Vostok joint military exercises, that ended with Russia accusing China of stealing IP of a range of military technologies. Russia later charged one of its scientists of passing sensitive information to China.

While they may appear to put on a good front for the Western media there appears to be little trust between them and really their only common ground is disdain of the West. Russia will always be Russia and China will always steal and copy from anyone. They can't help themselves

When were you born? 2021?

The Warsaw Pact was an organisation designed to make it easier for the USSR to attack members of the Warsaw Pact.

Figure that one.

Russia is not afraid of NATO attacking it - it hasn’t done so since it was founded in 1949.

Russia’s problem is that because NATO is a defensive alliance, if Russia attacks the smallest NATO member, every NATO member will join in to smash Russia to a pulp.

And what “ex-Soviet states” will actually join Russia? The Eastern European states are already in NATO or want to join. The Central Asian states are in the long term trying to escape Russian and Chinese influence.

Well, let's think about that. NATO was formed by countries trying to seek protection from Russian aggression. Exactly who would want to join Russia for mutual protection?

Certainly almost none of the states in Eastern Europe would want to join Russia. They were only two glad to get out of the Soviet Union. Finland? Finland has been invaded by Russia twice. Who else are you thinking?

As far as China is concerned, do you really think that China wants to tie themselves to Russia? If China signs a pact with Russia and Russia does something stupid to get itself attacked, China is then obligated to join the war with Russia. That is antithetical to China's foreign policy to begin with, but given Russia's recent stupidity, why would they want to get dragged into that?

Conceivably India or Iran might be more amenable than China or the Eastern European states. But still it is doubtful that they would want to get dragged into Russia's messes either.

They have one: the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which is a bunch of old Soviet states for the most part. The CSTO replaced the old Cold War era Warsaw Pact. The members are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia, and they regularly conduct joint military exercises - in fact, the original build up and movement of forces close to the Ukranian border for the last six months before the invasion was part of a series of reported join exercises being conducted by the CSTO. Forces which, later, never left the region after the exercise.

Haha!

Good one!

He tried but except one or two they all told him to go f** himself.

This is exactly why he ordered his soldiers to start an ethnic cleansing solution in Ukraine, and this is what he has been doing for the last twenty years in other countries like Tchetchenya or Georgia.

Some say money cannot buy Love, but for sure communism, bullyism, war threats, nuclear threats, maternity bombings, civilians murderings and systematic destruction of cities, building by building will only create Hate and distrust.

Poutine cannot make any friends so he kills them.

Hear him speaking about how he pretended to be saving Ukraine and has been killing more civilians than in any other recent wars and is on his way to match the worst ww2 atrocities.

There were good reasons to rejoice when the USSR fell, and despite the hardships the russian people had to face, they were on their way to recovery.

Today, whichever the outcome of the ongoing Ukraine genocide, who will want to make friend with Poutine and his criminal oligarch friends?

Even China?

2.5% of China’s GDP come from Russia and 25% of their GDP from the USA.

Are they really going to associate themselves with mass murders Russia is conducting on their own brothers?

Every country buying significant amounts of oil or gas in Russia is now making plans to back away and severe their dependencies to this land of madness.

Russian people have constantly been under the sadistic rule of tsars or dictators and this is sad to see how they are going the way of ever more pain, regression and overall miserable outcomes.

Because most Ex-Soviet States and Warsaw Pact members utterly hated being enslaved to the ethnic Russian’s and Moscow and St Petersberg elites? Their first order of business after escaping from the Iron Curtain was to line up to join Nato as fast as possible. Moscow has very very few friends among the Ex-Soviet states, and their numbers are diminishing daily.

As for China? Russia and China have always hated each other. Going back 1000+ years. They may seem to have common interests, they really don’t. If China is seeming supportive of Putin it is just to gain an advantage on energy prices. China is just as likely to invade the Russian far east as Russia is to come into conflict with NATO. And Moscow has long been the ones stirring up ethnic troubles among the Chinese Uighar population in Western China, going back to pre WW2. Russia and China have a very long very unfriendly border. (Honestly under Xi every border with China is an unfriendly border).

The answer is simple, they had their Nato long time ago, Warsaw Block. It was created by socialist countries that think as the Kremlin at the time but in now days no one wants to be socialist or communist country as the Soviet Union was. Russia invade few countries because they leaved the Warsaw block, so most countries are afraid of Russia for many decades so this is the reason they want to become Nato. Several ex soviet countries becomes NATO members. Finland and Sweden wants to become Nato too, it is clear that Russia is a bully country, everyone is afraid of them, Mr Putin does not understand that Nato wants to grow is because of him, he failed to make partners and friend in the region. See how he threaten everyone with nukes. See how many has died in Ukraine, he really does not care about life.

There are a few reasons why Russia may not simply build their own NATO with ex-Soviet states and allies like China, despite being concerned about NATO's expansion and military capabilities:

1. Different objectives: The NATO alliance was formed with a specific purpose, which is to provide collective defense against potential security threats to its member states. While Russia may want to counterbalance NATO's influence, it may have different objectives in mind for its own alliance or partnerships. For example, Russia may seek to increase its own regional influence or pursue economic objectives, which may not align with the goals of potential partners.
2. Limited resources: Russia's economic and military resources may be limited compared to those of NATO, making it more challenging to build a comparable alliance. Russia may also have to compete with other regional powers, such as China, for influence and resources, which could further strain its ability to build a strong and cohesive alliance.
3. Different priorities: Some ex-Soviet states may have their own priorities and alliances that do not align with Russia's interests. For example, some countries may be more interested in closer ties with NATO or the European Union, while others may prioritize relations with China or other regional powers.
4. Historical tensions: Russia has had a complex and sometimes fraught relationship with some ex-Soviet states, which could make it difficult to build trust and cooperation. Some countries may be wary of Russia's intentions, given its history of military interventions and annexations, such as in Ukraine and Georgia.

In summary, while Russia may be concerned about NATO's military capabilities and expansion, building its own alliance with ex-Soviet states and allies like China may not be a straightforward or feasible solution. There are a variety of factors that could complicate such an effort, including differences in objectives, limited resources, competing priorities, and historical tensions.

They have tried…and tried…

As others have pointed out, they made the Warsaw Pact, which Russia themselves violated to an extent that many former members have since joined NATO.

Then there are the endless Communist puppet states that were set up as an anti-NATO but almost none of them could support themselves. They were using Russian cash to keep themselves solvent, but when the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia’s economy experienced real problems (starting even before the SU collapse), they weren’t going to keep being semi-vassal states of Russia.

Even today, Russia has absolutely tried to set up its own coalition of the damned by propping up pariah regimes in Syria, Venezuela, and North Korea. The first two are countries where the majority of citizens despise the current head of government, who is being kept in place mostly by Russian military help and money. Without Russian and Chinese help, I doubt one of those countries would be able to keep their lights on—that’s how dependent they are on Russian/Chinese money. [That isn’t true for NATO countries, none of which are being propped up anywhere near what Russia or China has done with Cuba, NK, VZ, and Syria.]

And I’m not sure exactly when this question was asked, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has NOT made countries MORE likely to enter ANY agreement with Russia. After all, Russia had an agreement with Ukraine not to invade them if they gave up their nuclear weapons, and Russia spectacularly broke that—the way they’ve broken previous treaties with former Soviet Bloc states.

Russia doesn’t really do “friends” or “coalitions.” They took advantage of the post-WWII situation to subjugate a bunch of countries they had no business controlling. Naturally, countries from Poland to “East Germany” wanted their f***ing independence back, and broke away the second they could. Also naturally, many countries are unlikely to want to enter agreements with them, unless their repressive leader is forced into a corner (like Syria’s Assad or Venezuela’s Maduro).