“is that he became this consigliere to this Russian puppet in Ukraine”
And at the time the United States were entirely on the side of Yanukovitch as the elected president of Ukraine.
Ex post facto disdain for Yanukovitch in the wake of the Maidan riots is not a reason to vilify Manafort with guilt by association.
Mueller simply went into the records of Manafort’s investment business and cherry picked a few points - like not registering in one or another instance - and magnified them.
Most of the charges won’t stand up in court, and the few that remain will end being plead down or dismissed, or viewed as administrative violations that normally involve a civil fine.
I hope Mueller is going where the facts lead him. But I have no reason to believe he will.