No, not true at all. The only expansion going on here is NATO expansion.
The US has a Geo-Political Strategy. The end-game of that strategy is for the US and Britain to gain control and carve up the eastern Russian republics for themselves (and maybe throw France and Germany a bone), because the eastern Russian republics have 2x more oil and natural gas than Central Asia and an abundance of a variety of metal ores and non-metallic minerals.
To get control of the eastern Russian republics, the US needs control of Central Asia so it bankroll "pro-Democracy" groups and smuggle weapons, equipment and supplies into the eastern Russian republics.
The Central Asian States have 5x-7x more oil and natural gas than all of the Middle East and North Africa -- which means eastern Russia has 10x-14x more oil and natural gas than the Middle East/North Africa -- and lots of metallic ores and non-metallic minerals.
To get control of the Central Asian States, the US must have unfettered air, rail and highway access from the Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean Region, so the US must get control of Iran.
To get control of Iran, the US must take out Iraq and Afghanistan, which it has done.
To prevent Russia from defending itself, the US must drive Russia out of the Mediterranean Sea and pen them up in the Black Sea, which the US has done by castrating Yugoslavia to deny Russian ships access to ports in the Adriatic, and get control of Libya and Tunisia, for the same reason (and the US has control).
Syria is the only stumbling block, but really the only advantage for Russia is forward operating bases for their fighters and bombers to thwart the US plan.
Which brings us to Ukraine.
When the insurgents in eastern Russia bankrolled and supplied by the US start acting up, Russia will naturally move to put down the insurgency.
The US and Britain will insist on a No-Fly Zone and that's why the US needs Ukraine to be a NATO member-State to use air bases to enforce the No-Fly Zone.
If Belarus and Ukraine are neutral -- which is what Putin wants -- then the US/NATO cannot violate their air-space.
That means the No-Fly Zone has to be operated out of Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Central Asia.
That's why Russia took Crimea.
Russian surface groups are very good anti-ship/anti-air platforms. They will blast NATO aircraft out of the sky leaving out of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey on their way into Russia.
Russian SAMs in Crimea will do a lot of damage, too, and then Russian fighters will interdict NATO aircraft and Russian bombers will be launching non-ballistic missiles at NATO air bases in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey to thwart the US attempt to conquer eastern Russia.
And the reason the US needs to control eastern Russia is to keep your Standard of Living way higher than everyone else:
The costs of not implementing this strategy are clear. Failure to meet our defense objectives will result in decreasing U.S. global influence, eroding cohesion among allies and partners, and reduced access to markets that will contribute to a decline in our prosperity and standard of living.
[emphasis mine]
I worked on this plan while at TRADOC Headquarters. I've been telling people about it since I first joined a forum in 2008 -- so 14 years now -- but your government only published that about 3 years ago.
blogs.timesofisrael.com
