I understand that, but I still feel they should have called his bluff early on, the "we will stand back and not get involved" sent the wrong message at the outset which gave him carte blanche to carry on.
One feels the minor incursions at the start into the Government buildings and the airport were to test the water to see what the response would be without committing forces in number. Failure to react gave him the green light to invade, and all the follow up rhetoric about marching into East Ukraine to protect the area were just a ploy to draw the worlds attention away from Crimea, pulling back his troops post exercise stating he would not move into East Ukraine was probably what he had planned in the first place having attained his objectives... And the west just stood by and let it hapoen.