They just didn't give it enough time for freedom loving generation to blossom naturally, instead cornering people into a false choice with expected results that we're observing now. Like i previously stated, in 2013 everything was going great, Russia was part of European court of human rights, visa facilitation agreement with EU was in force and there were discussions about visa free entries between EU and RU, plans for Nord Stream2 were being approved etc etc etc. Then somebody felt very uncomfortable with such arrangements and under the pretense of not enough democracy fast enough, decided to attempt to pry the last remaining allies that RU had (while being fully aware of a big chunk of population that still support the ways of Stalin)?!? Kazakhstan was too far east and in China's backyard, Belarus had a crazy leader that managed to hold on to power, and Ukraine was just right to support orange and then maidan revolutions. Even this UA propaganda piece, while salivating over dreams of collapse of RU still blatantly admit that Generals most likely to overthrow Russian regime and not some EU leaning liberals. On top of that they go on to explain how greatly China would benefit from this and following that logic would expedite China's rise to become the biggest global power even sooner! Seriously, this is the best case scenario a military ruled Russia and a stronger China! Who wouldn't want to devastate their own economies for such ingenious plans 
Nice attempt at revisionist history... except it's bullshit. Russia wasn't moving towards democracy and freedom in 2013. With a KGB nutjob in power it had bombed Chechnia into submission, had a war with Georgia, and was supporting conflicts and dictatorships elsewhere (Moldova, Belarus, etc). Intervention in Ukraine fits that pattern. Conspiratardery about "somebody feeling uncomfortable" and orchestrating a bizarre sequence of events that manipulated Putin into invading Ukraine makes no sense to anyone except deluded kremlinists.
Blah blah blah Russia wasn't perfect, here i found some issues that will convince everyone that Russia wasn't moving towards democracy and freedom in 2013 fast enough. Russia - EU summits were held up to 2014 and this guy just ended his presidency in 2012. Surely the military generals that everyone calls to replace Putin would somehow be much better for everyone
US using their soft power "freedom cookies" to pry Ukraine from Russia is all conspiracy theories because US assistant secretary and ambassadors give out cookies at every coup/revolution
Quote from: Nuland
...I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, Fuck the EU...
Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957BBC must be one of those Russian propaganda sites?
But to your point, if there's a will there's a way. Look I can even help you out and find more justification to bring "freedom cookies" to Kazakhstan
Quote
Tokayev’s ex-wife and son are both closely connected to Russia. Indeed, according to media reports, Tokayev’s ex-wife is a Russian citizen. And both she and her son have been linked to pricey real estate in and around Moscow. More recently, their ownership of two apartments in the Russian capital appears to have been covered up in Russia’s federal property database.
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/01/14/meet-the-tokayevsDoes anyone even need reasons to justify bringing freedom cookies to Belarus??
In US One in every 36 Black Wisconsinites are in prison In fact you can name any country and i can provide justification to bring more freedom cookies to it.
So the "people's republics" all announced referendums (on the subject of joining Russian Federation) to take place within the next few days, and Putin was supposed to make a TV appearance, presumably to speak on the subject. The expectation is that of course these territories will be formally annexed by Russia and this will open a legal pathway for military draft/mobilization/special slaughter operation or whatever they will call it. Putin's speech has been postponed though, likely until tomorrow.
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Oh my god what a total surprise...to absolutely no one! How dumb would one need to be to actually believe the propaganda that UA can take Donbas and Crimea from Russia without Russia escalating and calling in it's 2 million in reserves and later fully mobilizing if needed?
It's a retarded game of escalation, where as everyone so happily were pointing out for Russia the stakes are existential. So now Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will all become part of Russia, this will automatically allow Putin to pull 135.000 conscripts into theater to protect new "Russian" territory. Then he'll announce that any country supplying weapons used to attack this new "RU territory" will be considered a party to the conflict with a possible declaration of war to follow. This will free up his hands for further full mobilization, and converting economy/manufacturing on war footing if needed. Stakes are raised, doomsday clock gets closer to midnight. Everyone is now watching US as the ball is now in their court, US can either escalate back, send trillions in military aid and the clock will move into seconds till midnight as the next move for RU would once again be a nuclear stand off, or go into deescalation stage. Any bets on what happens next? Everyone on this blue marble gets front row seats to watch if humanity is dumb enough to destroy itself once again.