ABSTRACT
Russian President Vladimir Putin chose against an acknowledged and overt Russian military invasion of Ukrainian state territory. Instead, Russia occupied Crimea with clandestine special operations troops, supported by already deployed forces on their previously leased base there, and combined with political disinformation and strategic deception. Vladimir Putin's problem in Ukraine in 2014, as seen from his perspective, was that he had to preserve a Russia-friendly regime in Kiev without taking actions so obviously menacing to the West that a military confrontation between Russia and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) resulted. Russia's occupation of Crimea in February and March 2014 had the object of influencing the will of the Ukrainian government, of member governments of the European Union and NATO, including the Obama administration. The battle of perceptions management in Ukraine in 2014 began with the defenestration of the Yanukovych regime in February, in the aftermath of street protests and demonstrations in Kiev and elsewhere.
