Given the reports of Chechens in Ukraine and the training of volunteers in Crimea why would you doubt that Putin has elected to use proxies to destabilize Ukraine? The Russian disinformation program has counted on a slow witted western media to cover its lies when the internet has readily exposed them.
Chechens in Ukraine? Wow, the green men went their to fight Chechens. That’s a good one. Is that why Putin sent them to Crimea and Georgia, to get the Chechens?