"Protecting its sovereign borders" by stealing from others' sovereign borders? Sorry, not buying it.
But I find the argument that "USA is not bad, because Russia did bad" to be highly specious.
Russia, and the Russians in the region that was invaded, can justify its mis-deeds as protection of its sovereignty.
America, and thus Americans, cannot.
There were no Americans to protect in Iraq. In Afghanistan. In Syria, Yemen, Libya.
Seriously, Americans are liable for some deep, deep shit. Russians, less so.
And there was no Russians to protect in Crimea, so stop whitewashing Kremlin lies.
And I completely deny that Russia has the right to speak for ethnic Russians of other nationalities, and to invade their countries on their behalf.
Prior to Russo-Turkish war Crimea was a part of the Ottoman Empire, after Russia won that war it conquered Crimea and absorbed it into the fold in 1783. Crimea has not been a traditional part of the Ukraine since before the existence of the United States of America.
Failure to grasp reality does not change the fact that a Crimea filled with ethnic Russians, host to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, in a city founded over 250 years ago by Russia, which holds extreme strategic importance to the nation could never be allowed to fall under the sphere of NATO.