Brewers Droop you also have to remember Crimea was part of Russia until the 1950s and after the coup in Kiev the locals wanted to join Russia again. Much of the eastern population of Ukraine also did not approve of the coup in Kiev and lean towards Moscow. Its only natural if Kiev use force against them Moscow will give some support them. As I pointed out earlier the west has supported rebels (terrorists) in Libya and Syria in recent years, the US did the same in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Right now the US regime dreams of ousting Assad from power and thus supports various terrorists in Syria to try and make this dream (nightmare) a reality.