When Putin mentioned the drastic changes in Ukraine, he once said that he was "cheated badly by the United States." What did America cheat him?

This is because the US government wants Russia to persuade Ukrainian President Yanukovych not to use force to solve anti-government demonstrations. But then Yanukovych was overthrown, so the Russian government felt cheated by the United States and its relations with the United States changed a lot. Ukraine is very important to Russia, because Ukraine lies between NATO and Russia. It can be said that Russia regards Ukraine as its back garden and its strategic living space.

The Ukrainian issue can be said to be a game between Russia and the United States. Although the civil war in Ukraine is ostensibly an internal conflict in Ukraine, there is a shadow of a big country behind it. This is because people in eastern Ukraine are very close to Russia, while people in western Ukraine are closer to western countries. Therefore, the country of Ukraine is very divided, and some big countries behind it provoke disputes, which leads to fierce conflicts between the two sides.

Later, Russia chose to occupy Crimea in order to protect its own interests. Because the Crimea region is very important to Russia, because once occupied, it is equivalent to safeguarding the interests of the Russian navy in the Black Sea region. There are Russian military bases on the Crimean peninsula. Once strategic deterrent weapons are deployed in Crimea, it will seriously threaten the security of NATO countries.

So later, Russia warned western countries not to act rashly by occupying Crimea, but it was also strongly sanctioned by western countries, so now Russia's economy has experienced a great decline.