What's happening now in Ukraine happened before in Georgia : Abkhazia and South Osetia declared independence, locals got evacuated to Russia under the pretext of imminent genocide by the Georgian government, cars of local officials blew up, allegedly due to terrorist activity by forces opposed to the Russian take over - strangely, there were no victims. The Russian parliament recognized the independence of the breakway republic, the Russian army was sent in, war ensued, Georgia was defeated and ended up with two (currently) frozen conflicts on its territory.
Not so original this Putin guy, the same/similar thing seems to be happening right now in Ukraine.
Putin/Russia recognized the republics of Luhansk and Donetsk as comprising the entire regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Only one third of this area is now under the control of the rebels/Russia, and that’s the area where Russian troops are currently massing. Will they make a push for the rest of Luhansk and Donetsk? If so, will they stop once they occupy the whole area, or will they keep going?
Most former Soviet states are pulling away from Russia, and Putin keeps fighting to hold them back. Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and that was only last year. He ended up sending troops in Kazakhstan. Moldova also has a frozen war on its territory with the self-declared trans-Dniester republic which, incidentally, has Russian “peace keepers” in it's territory
What doesn’t seem to occur to Putin is that those countries really like the EU and the economic prosperity it brings rather than anything Russia/Putin can provide. Or maybe he knows it, but he doesn’t care. That’s the root of his troubles in Ukraine, the Maidan/Orange revolution that kicked out the pro-Russian president was triggered by Ukraine reneging an economic treaty with the EU. But Putin thinks Russia is entitled to have its buffer of vassal countries around it, and what those countries want it’s irrelevant. The Soviet-era iron boot on their various necks didn’t exactly instill in any of these countries a fondness of Russians or being under said boot. The Baltics in particular, but most of eastern Europe as well definitely ran to the west as soon as they could and hence reasons for Putin wanting a buffer.