In 2014 a sizable "realist" constituency existed who (behind the scenes) would say "oh but Crimea should never have been in Ukraine anyway" or "the people there really wanted to join Russia"
— Alex Scrivener - ალეკო სკრივენერი (@alscriv) September 29, 2022
Both lies of course. But for those who wanted to believe them - they could
Not any more