Protection of Russian compatriots was announced as a priority of the Russian state – President Vladimir Putin dedicated his address on Crimea to it in March, and repeated the idea in early July when he spoke at the ministry of foreign affairs. And for that reason, the expectation arose both in eastern Ukraine and in Russia that the Kremlin, no less decisively than it had in Crimea, would step in to help; all the more so because in Crimea Moscow had acted pre-emptively, only in apprehension of forceful measures from Kiev, while in Donbass the Ukrainian authorities were carrying out a full military operation, no matter the costs.