On the pretext of saving Russian lives, President Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea with soldiers and then ratified possibly wider use of military force in Ukraine with a unanimous vote of his rubber-stamp upper chamber of parliament on March 1.

Members of the Russian Federation Council said that their nation’s troops are needed to protect the safety of millions of ethnic Russians in Ukraine and that the soldiers should stay until “the constitutional order is restored in Ukraine,” which hints at a possible Russian attempt to return to power Viktor Yanukovych, ousted as Ukraine’s president on Feb. 22, or install another Kremlin-friendly leader.