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In reply to the discussion: Ukraine: Donetsk bridges blown up to halt access to rebel-held city [View all]Tommy_Carcetti
(43,157 posts)Crimea was prime for the taking--the situation in Ukraine was just too unsettled for there to be any type of military response whatsoever, and he had the sizable ethnic Russian population to support a call for annexation. So he carpe diemed knowing there'd never be a better time for him to lay claim to that land he truly believed Russia was entitled to.
Regarding east Ukraine--he would have wanted to add that to the Russian Federation as well. But there were several obstacles present there that weren't present with Crimea. First, the ethnic Russian, while still sizeable, is much smaller there and an overall minority. Secondly, the Ukrainian government was in much better shape to respond that it was in late February 2014. So he went in, but he didn't go all in. I think there were Russian agents mixed in with the locals (as evidenced by Girkin and Borodai), a pretty much free supply of weaponry, and large amounts of mercenary troops who might have had the Kremlin's official blessing (Vostok). He'd see as far as that would take him. If the Ukrainian army was routed and they waived the white flag as it relates to Donetsk and Luhansk, he'd gladly welcome those in. If not--then he'd just play up the plausible deniability angle and be done with it.