NATO (prodded by neocon US warhawks) is the entity fomenting the strife virtually everywhere in that theater. Russia never would have felt the need - that's NEED - to annex Crimea except for the direct provocation to its naval base's security there when the U.S, fomented, aided and abetted the Ukrainian coup in 2014. Russia is a fat sugar plum that the neocons want unbridled access to just like the good old wild west days of Yeltsin and his cronies.