You know, that reminded me of a Czech article I read a long time ago. It's a sort of a thought exercise about the Prague Spring and the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion, and about how the EU does the same thing so much better now. You might find it interesting.

https://novinychrudim-cz.translate.goog/2017/08/21/pavel-kohout-kdyby-breznev-byl-o-trochu-chytrejsi/?_x_tr_sl=cs&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Czechoslovakia must be acquired in a different way. Our institute is proposing an extensive subsidy plan. Financial subsidies will be at least forty percent cheaper than an armed invasion. We will use the subsidies to buy their politicians and high officials, because they will decide on the subsidies. We will also buy the population. Let's remember how loyal the Germans were to Hitler for building them highways. At each entrance to the highway there will be a prominent inscription Built with the help of structural funds financed by the Soviet Union. We will subsidize buildings, businesses, student social stays, whatever. It is essential to create a sufficiently strong layer of Czechoslovak elites who will be dependent on subsidies: because then Czechoslovakia will be dependent on the Soviet Union.