Russia claimed before the 'special military operation' that there were attacks and acts of sabotage occurring on the Donetsk/Lugansk side. I know there were European ceasefire monitors tracking ceasefire violations, but couldn't figure out from their data whether these claims were true.
That said, way back in 2014, when people in these places (among with others were the uprising was savagely put down) did basically the same thing the participants in the US-backed Maidan coup did (e.g. occupy government buildings in protest), the coup government's response was not support but to brand them as terrorists and to start military action against them.
Russia claimed before the 'special military operation' that there were attacks and acts of sabotage occurring on the Donetsk/Lugansk side. I know there were European ceasefire monitors tracking ceasefire violations, but couldn't figure out from their data whether these claims were true.
That said, way back in 2014, when people in these places (among with others were the uprising was savagely put down) did basically the same thing the participants in the US-backed Maidan coup did (e.g. occupy government buildings in protest), the coup government's response was not support but to brand them as terrorists and to start military action against them.
For clarification, I wasn't talking about the 2014 Crimean annexation. I don't know much about that one.
Oh, I got what you're talking about - what happened right before Russia entering the war in force in 2022.