The sanctions came from liberal nations, to state the obvious. An external enemy, as far as Russians are concerned. The same countries never sanctioned USA over any of its similarly unjustified wars or the coup d'etat-s it organized. It's a matter of power relative to other nations, not the level of democracy in the aggressor.

Again, I'm not defending Crimea invasion by any means, but the original question is why do people accept autocracy, and the answer lies in their perception as much as actual truth, neither of which should be ignored.