Putin's Reasons. For thirty years Ukraine has been stealing billions of dollars of gas transiting through five Russian pipelines, some meant for Ukraine's own consumption and others for Eastern European countries. That's really not why Putin invaded Ukraine. Putin is a capitalist and he believes in the integrity of legal contracts and agreements to further Russia's development. That's why a 10 billion dollar gas pipeline from St. Petersburg Russia to Germany took 12 years to complete and why after it was sanctioned he invaded Ukraine.

MUSIC Alexander Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky