I'm not exactly sure how Vladimir Putin intends to retain what credibility he ever had by lying to our faces when we know better, i.e. that the Kremlin didn't send troops into the Crimean peninsula- but another thing we can see with our own two eyes is that the Russians likely intended to move into as much Ukrainian territory as possible, and likely take the whole country.  They probably counted on the Ukrainians providing them an excuse to get violent, but due to incredible discipline and restraint they've yet to fire a shot at the Russians... the easy gains are done......