I think you're wasting your time trying to convince people who don't want to see what's right in front of their nose. It's not remotely plausible that events

I think you're wasting your time trying to convince people who don't want to see what's right in front of their nose. It's not remotely plausible that events in Crimea and Donbass could have transpired without a great deal of direct and indirect support from the Russian authorities. It's entirely obvious by now that there are large numbers of Russian troops and military vehicles operating in Eastern Ukraine. They were fighting directly with Ukrainian forces before the ceasefire and probably still are now to a lesser extent. The other irregular forces have clearly been helped directly by Russia allowing them to operate freely on Russian territory, with manpower and training from the Russian military, and food, hardware and supplies from Russian military stocks. Putin eventually admitted after the fact that the little green men in Crimea were Russian soldiers. Only fools would believe any claims that they're not deeply involved in what's gone on in Donbass and other parts of eastern Ukraine.