English language media induces some level of doubt, but Russia has been pretty clear about what the stakes are. Ukraine needs to respect the autonomy that Eastern Russian-speaking territories have demanded, and that the Ukrainian government has agreed to. Unlike the previous situation in Crimea, the Russian government does not take this lightly, even though the current situation isn’t new or seeing particular developments.
Unlike the previous situation in Crimea? They took it by military force. The same playbook is going on here, with the Russian government currently moving to recognize the Donbass region as independent. To justify that, there was a supposed IED found that clearly was a false flag operation. Putin immediately started blabbering about “genocide”. I find it hard to see this as anything other than trying to rile up the people in the region who consume a lot of Russian-language media that will be echoing Putin’s words.
English language media induces some level of doubt, but Russia has been pretty clear about what the stakes are. Ukraine needs to respect the autonomy that Eastern Russian-speaking territories have demanded, and that the Ukrainian government has agreed to. Unlike the previous situation in Crimea, the Russian government does not take this lightly, even though the current situation isn’t new or seeing particular developments.
Unlike the previous situation in Crimea? They took it by military force. The same playbook is going on here, with the Russian government currently moving to recognize the Donbass region as independent. To justify that, there was a supposed IED found that clearly was a false flag operation. Putin immediately started blabbering about “genocide”. I find it hard to see this as anything other than trying to rile up the people in the region who consume a lot of Russian-language media that will be echoing Putin’s words.