Do you really believe that the EU "bribed" it's way into influence? So shameful. That would never happen under the clean as a whistle previous russian arrangement they had with ukrainian plutocrats. I suppose the covert EU provocateurs sprinkled worldwide doing CIA psyops are really to blame.
I don't get it, you yourself accept that Ukraine had valid reasons to try and get closer to EU, that it would obviously benefit it's people in many ways. The only barrier here seems to be...it pisses the russians off? Well you know what, fuck them. Ukraine isn't their land. The RF has no legitimacy over it. Poor russians will just have to be content with the ridiculously underpopulated massive chunk of Eurasia that is larger than the entire european continent, the poor "cornered" dears.
Btw Xant, spoiler that giant wall of text, damn.