@Sky2000
It’s way more complex than that, as the Soviet empire under Stalin carried out a policy of divide-and-conquer, were territories were ethnographically gerrymandered in order to be (at least in theory) less likely to work together to overthrow their new Soviet masters. Khrushchev to his credit undid a lot of Stalinism, but the divided territories still remained. It’s not just the Ukraine mind you, but also Moldova, the Caucasus’s, and Central Asia. If you’re a Russian in Eastern Ukraine when an anti-Russian government is elected in Kiev, or an Armenian in Western Azerbaijan when Baku starts becoming extremely pro-Turkey, you aren’t going to be too happy with a government that sees you as a pest to be removed.
Russia doesn’t want to take contested territory if it can help it however, because…
@MagpulPony
…It’s in Russia’s best geopolitical interests to keep the knife in, because it’s beneficial to the Russians for their adversaries to fight amongst themselves rather than uniting against Russia and threatening its interests. A best-case scenario for them is that pro-Russia separatists continue to occupy Eastern Ukraine, so as it keep its influence strong in the region, and have a market for its goods and weapons.
Also:
>advanced weapons
@Armagedonus
Lots of Serbian friends means that’s unlikely to happen, bro. I’m not excusing anything, just explaining how things ended up the way they did.
@Sky2000
Y’know, for “friends” of Iran and Venezuela, they sure are letting their economies tank needlessly. Like I said: Russia doesn’t have friends, only temporary alliances.