“The Kremlin has likely planned this operation for years, by the way, with lots of agents in place”
Being a former Soviet State, I have no doubt at all that Ukraine is riddled with people willing to give, or sell, info to the Russians. Especially the mafias.
That said, the US even has a “plan” for the invasion of Canada, should that ever become needed.
That Russia had a plan to move on Crimea should anything happen in Ukraine shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, given its strategic importance.
It wasn’t until the US gave Putin the OPPORTUNITY to move on Crimea, that he did. Russian intelligence isn’t stupid, they knew this was coming, and EXACTLY who was behind it.
That Putin is now using that to his advantage shouldn’t surprise anyone, either.
You should check some of the work by KGB defectors, counter-spies and other Soviet analysis. When we speak of the Kremlin having "plans," we mean plans they are actually going to use and are working to bring about. To watchers of the Kremlin, none of the behavior by Russia is actually a surprise. Until the hidden soviet structures in Russia are dismantled, the special services of that country and its military will remain a mortal threat to the West.
That Russia had a plan to move on Crimea should anything happen in Ukraine shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, given its strategic importance.
You might as well say that a liberal, or a socialist leadership in Canada will trigger an American invasion and annexation using astro-turf separatists and U.S. special forces wearing ski-masks.