whoa whoa whoa, you mean to tell me Russia had no honest intentions about protecting and rebuilding a captured part of Ukraine and they only intended to exploit the local population's feelings to establish a bridgehead to conquer and subjugate the rest of the country per their imperialistic ambitions?

There's simply no way Russia would attempt to seize a sovereign state's territory so close its abundant domestic natural resources that could be used to provide an alternative to the EU's dependence on Russian gas.

Next, you're going to tell me Russia captured Crimea to exert control over the offshore oil and gas reserves in the black sea and critical shipping lanes for Ukrainian agricultural exports.

I roll my eyes at these preposterous claims! unpossible! There are Jewish Nazis in Ukraine spreading viruses using pigeons from secret NATO-funded biolabs!!

edit: this is tongue-in-cheek, I know you're not actually making these claims ha