Why are you shifting the posts like that? It is very frustrating to talk to you.

It matters whether or not it was a Russian base because they were at risk of losing it. If the roles were reversed, we might have done the same - or something similar (although it is hard to imagine). The fact is, preceding the unilateral actions of Russia, multiple parties pushed them away from a negotiation table in various ways. If you push people away from a negotiation table, then they will take unilateral actions of their own.

I do not agree with those (or, really, any kind of) unilateral actions, but I understand why they took them, and I see legitimacy in the concerns that motivated their illegitimate actions.

I do not really see such legitimacy in the NOT illegitimate but undiplomatic & unilateral actions of the EU in our refusal to talk ("puppet" is a very poor excuse), or in the similarly NOT illegitimate but - as far as I'm concerned - completely unnecessary actions of the US concerning their agenda pushing within Ukraine.