It is a reasonable interpretation though I will admit I disagree with it. I have no problem separating people from their government. That said, I am not sure the regime in Moscow - come to think of it, any regime - feels the same way.

I guess what I am saying is that you might be missing a forest for the trees. Democracy is a threat to Putin only in a sense that his control over Ukraine weakened with ouster of Yanukovych. He was fine with democracy as long as 'his' candidate won. Now, we can argue over whether Ukraine was a democracy, but I am not sure that is a good or even worthwhile argument to have.