> Except I haven't seen any examples of that.

How did Russian troops disguised as independent mercenaries manage to invade and conquer Crimea in 2014 with hardly any resistance from the local defence forces?

If they'd believed the invaders were independent, they'd have fought. No army surrenders their country to nameless bandits.

That they didn't fight is evidence they knew the invaders were backed by Moscow. Which is evidence that Moscow suborned them before the invasion began.