When was that ever the position held by Russia? I’ve only seen this assertion made by western demagogues without any evidence. The closest they have come is pointing at Dugin and his works but then they don’t give evidence of any direct effect it has had on Russian policies.

There never was a clear position beyond Crimea, but things just kept escalating on both sides from there, so now it’s also Donbas. Since Putin keeps avoiding a full scale invasion it doesn’t seem likely to me they are after the whole Ukraine, but I could be wrong ofc.