[stfnppv]

Ehhhhh, no. Yanukovych was a Putin puppet elected with Russian money that served predominantly Russian interests, hence his defiant opposition to what the populace wanted - steps to integrate with the European Union.

His government turned on its own people and cracked down on protesters, leading to the events of EuroMaidan. Putin of course would not have the European Union in his backyard. He also certainly did not want his main access to the Black Sea to be cut off, so he used the turmoil to annex Crimea, while keeping Eastern Ukraine as unstable as possible.