Agreed, but the referendums are crap. Anyone who disagrees with the pro-Russians are accused of being Right Sector Provocateurs and beaten or killed. The fact this guy would say “freedom and rule of law” is a joke. Journalists (real journalists) are threatened with being shot. They use transparent ballot boxes. The new Ukraine government is a mess, but what Putin is doing in the East does not fit his “Defender of Christianity” Moniker.
You are right.
What Putin is doing in the East is not pretty, but it is what we would do if the shoe was on our foot instead of his. Russia must and will have its land bridge to Crimea and the Black Sea, and it must and will preserve its arms industries centered around Donetsk. Putin is playing this low key with a handful of fighters here and there, because he is a chess player and Ukraine is falling apart anyway; we would have just invaded outright. It is tough to be a pawn along the frontier, and has been throughout history.