“The Russian troops are also defending the the Russian Republic of Crimea and the Russian federal city of Sevastopol.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You are so wrong, it’s actually comedy at this point. :)
Here you have your Dear Leader Putin himself contradicting your smokey theories...
“In an interview with Germany’s ARD television in 2008, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow recognizes ALL of Ukraine’s borders, and that there is no issue of ethnic conflict in Crimea. His comments, delivered shortly after Russia’s military intervention in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, stand in stark contrast with Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.”
https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-crimea-ukraine/26942862.html
Unintended consequence of that Euromaidan coup in 2014.