Wars and victories were always about marketing, throughout the entire history. This is not new. Almost always, history books were written, declaring the winner the right side.
Good that you mentioned the Tatars of Crimea btw. A very good example of how Russians worked under Soviet Union. That's also what I mean that language, ethnicity etc are not enough. Only solution is to make a proper referandum, asking people what they want and there they can consider which is more important to them, language, ethnicity or ideology.
I criticise western world a lot when it comes to what they did in Africa for example and today demanding sustainable solutions in the continent, which is like a joke. I also believe west should pay for the harm they did there. But these don't justify what Russia is doing. To me, Russian government is violent and raping a country's freedom and nothing that the western world did can justify or excuse what Russia is doing today.
I agree with everything said here and the rest of your post, which is why I don't consider myself pro-West, pro-EU or pro-Russia. But only anti-war.