[phaedrix]

Thanks for posting this; I've had a lot of trouble trying to figure out how Putin is justifying what seems like obvious aggression against another sovereign nation.

The tl;dr I think is simply that - Putin does not consider ukraine a soveign nation -- he (and I guess many russians) consider it part of russia; e.g. a wayward child that needs to be brought back into the family.

Anyway, thanks. I don't agree, but I think it's extremely important to understand both sides, otherwise no conversation can ever happen.