Bullshit. Putin has stated he wants to reunite former Soviet states. Ukraine becoming more democratic and wanting to join western systems like the EU and NATO

Bullshit. Putin has stated he wants to reunite former Soviet states. Ukraine becoming more democratic and wanting to join western systems like the EU and NATO make that impossible for Putin. Putin cannot afford a large successful Slavic democracy to be a direct comparison to the authoritarian regime he’s built. If democracy and free markets succeed in Ukraine, no amount of Putin’s propaganda will protect him from long term instability and potential overthrow by the people that have been under Russia’s corrupt yolk for 30 years.