Not true. Putin negotiated for 8 years to keep Ukraine sovereign and whole. Turns out the West was not sincere. That is not a "manufactured grievance", that was admitted by both Merkel and Hollande.

In fact, it is you and your cohorts in the West that are manufacturing grievances against Russia. You claim Putin is expansionist wehen there is no evidence. Indeed, iff you look at Georgia and Chechenya the exact opposite is true.