by events putting another EU nation on his border? He wants to control the Ukraine as a buffer, no mystery there. He had no annexation plans until it became obvious that there would now be a hostile Ukraine next to Russia. He won't let that state control the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. The population there will agree with him. What's so hard to understand about that?
The rhetoric from the West not withstanding, it was a very predictable move by someone who will react when it's in his interest to do so.
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