Russia Took Crimea in 2014 — Now Ukraine Wants it Back

In 2014, Vice News published a peerless series of videos called ‘Russian Roulette’ that revealed to the world on-the-ground footage of Russia’s slow-motion invasion of the Donbas and Crimea.

I watched [former] Vice journalist Simon Ostrovsky in equal parts fascination and horror as he documented Russia’s advance.

If you haven’t seen the 100+ episode series, it is well worth a watch. It was nominated for two Emmys:

At the time, Putin wanted deniability. So, he sent his troops in without markings or uniform insignia that could identify them as Russian soldiers.

When journalists asked Vladimir Putin where the troops in Crimea came from, the Russian president answered, “There are many military uniforms. Go into any shop and you can find one.”

With a straight face, Putin assured journalists that the “little green men,” as they have come to be called, were “local self-defense units.”

According to the BBC, it took some time for NATO commanders to figure out the “size and scale” of Russia’s invasion, an invasion the Kremlin constantly denied.