Putin and his stooges don’t want free elections in Ukraine because they would lose bad. So instead they send the FSB in to astroturf mayhem in Ukraine. Then they demand a stacked deck: “minority rights” for Ukraine that nobody in Russia gets.
Al Qaeda in Ukraine isn’t winning any votes for Team KGB with all this kidnapping and murdering. Putin has badly overplayed his hand in E. Ukraine.
You summed it up nicely.
Its a bad situation for freedom loving folks in Ukraine with your historic enemy lurking ready to pounce.
Ethnic Russians represent a majority in three eastern Ukraine provinces. They would support independence and, likely, integration into the Russian Federation. Russian tactical support would just be icing on the cake. Putin is playing from popular, demographic strength.