I've read too many academic materials on the matter, and I don't trust the media nor should you.

Ya, that's one account, and the other is nationalists attempted to stop the vote from occurring so the separatists asked for military aid to ensure no disturbances. So far, no violence in Crimea, but the separatists in Eastern Ukraine have been murdered continuously since 2014. Being as though I'm an anti-war activists, I'm going to go with the vote being a better idea than the ongoing slaughter of Eastern Ukrainians.

What makes you think the EU and the US don't have their eyes set on Ukraine for their interests? Could Russia, the EU, and the US all be corrupt, or just Russia because we don't live there?

Again, Putin is bad, Biden is bad, Johnson is bad, and all of us get screwed fighting a capitalists war - again... well, we might die from nukes before then so who knows.