As a side note, none of Putin's reasons that he lists in his many speeches on the topic have entered western news discourse. And it's trivial to show that what does enter "Putin the imperialist" has no basis in the speeches that are summarised by the media as "Putin is an imperialist".

Literally, just go and read them and compare with what newspapers "summarise".

Putin explicitly says in taking Crimea he's keeping Russia's naval base way from NATO. In invading Ukraine, he explicitly says his aim is to preserve Ukraine as a state with its own sovereignty comprised of Ukrainian nationals. ie., his interest is in annexing enough of the east to create an ethnic-russian buffer between NATO and Russia.

Now if you want to deny these as propaganda, that's fair enough (you'd need, nevertheless, to provide evidence) --- but we should note that nothing Putin offers as reasons for war has been heard directly in the western media.

It is no coincidence that his reasons give the west far more agency in his decision-making than we're told.

Consider:

eg., in 2014, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/20603

> Let me note too that we have already heard declarations from Kiev about Ukraine soon joining NATO. What would this have meant for Crimea and Sevastopol in the future? It would have meant that NATO’s navy would be right there in this city of Russia’s military glory, and this would create not an illusory but a perfectly real threat to the whole of southern Russia.

> We want to be friends with Ukraine and we want Ukraine to be a strong, sovereign and self-sufficient country. Ukraine is one of our biggest partners after all. We have many joint projects and I believe in their success no matter what the current difficulties.

And, we're told, the speech which seals-the-deal on putin committed to "conquering ukraine" as a soviet imperialst in 2021, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

> First of all, we are facing the creation of a climate of fear in Ukrainian society, aggressive rhetoric, indulging neo-Nazis and militarising the country. Along with that we are witnessing not just complete dependence but direct external control, including the supervision of the Ukrainian authorities, security services and armed forces by foreign advisers, military ”development“ of the territory of Ukraine and deployment of NATO infrastructure. It is no coincidence that the aforementioned flagrant law on ”indigenous peoples“ was adopted under the cover of large-scale NATO exercises in Ukraine.

> The incumbent authorities in Ukraine like to refer to Western experience, seeing it as a model to follow. Just have a look at how Austria and Germany, the USA and Canada live next to each other. Close in ethnic composition, culture, in fact sharing one language, they remain sovereign states with their own interests, with their own foreign policy. But this does not prevent them from the closest integration or allied relations.

> I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia. Our spiritual, human and civilizational ties formed for centuries and have their origins in the same sources, they have been hardened by common trials, achievements and victories. Our kinship has been transmitted from generation to generation.