Maybe Putin is playing some kind of game, or maybe the uprising was genuinely unexpected and put him in a very hard position.

It seems to me that Russian media has taken a very strong stance in favour of the rebels, while Putin for some reason is sticking with platitudes and non-sequiteurs.
But I think Lavrov has been brilliant and said some really good things. He is an amazingly talented statesman for sure and come across as really sympathetic.