No, they're keeping a revolution from turning a pro-Russia government into a pro-EU government, which would cost them their only deep warm water port. A EU Ukraine would devastate the Russian economy. This isn't at all about Ukraine itself, Russia is acting solely in Russia's best interest.
Ultimately, I agree completely. That's what I was getting at with my Panama analogy. The US would certainly have a keen (and legitimate, in my view) interest in protecting the Panama canal. Likewise, I think Russia has a legitimate interest in protecting its resources in Crimea.
Personally, I think it's about more than that. Russia's national and cultural interests aren't at odds here. They're both important causes. And, the Ukraine is undoubtedly a state to which Russia feels a strong regional and cultural connection. They're its protectorate.
Gary, you may want to read up on that "legitimately" and "democratically elected government". Its election was surrounded with questions and unexplained inconsistencies, which eventually led to Tymoshenko being jailed for questioning it too much.
The European Union thought in 2010 that it was a fair election:
http://www.ponarseurasia.org/sites/default/files/policy-memos-pdf/pepm_090.pdfThe dénouement of Ukraine’s presidential election in January-February 2010 was as raucous as the campaign. Appearing at a victory rally on election night, Viktor Yanukovych spoke to his supporters only in Russian, even as he claimed to be grateful to “all Ukrainians.” In subsequent days, the defeated candidate, Yulia Tymoshenko, refused to accept the outcome even though all international election monitors reported that the election had been fair and legitimate...The head of the large election observer mission for the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, Heidi Tagliavini, hailed the 2010 Ukrainian election as “a well-administered and truly competitive election offering
voters a clear choice.”
I don't think that the West should now turn around and use political corruption as an excuse to support an unconstitutional coup of a democratically elected government.
FWIW, Tymoshenko wasn't jailed for questioning the elections. Lots of people in Ukraine did that. She and Yanukovych have been political adversaries for nearly 20 years. Tymoshenko was probably arrested to prevent her from seeking office in the future.
A good summary of those events:
http://helsinki.org.ua/files/docs/1321265218.pdfAs I understand it, that whole area is basically pro Russian because they are mostly Russian immigrants.
The Crimea and the Eastern part of Ukraine are largely ethnically Russian, with the rest of the country mostly ethnic Ukrainian. The ethnic Russia's are very pro-Russia, but the ethnic Ukrainians are more divided. Some love the West. Some just want to be independent of both the West and Russia. And, some still see Russia has a valuable protectorate.
You also have a smattering of other ethnicities that complicate things. Moldavians, Poles, Tatars, Belarusians, etc.