Pointless nitpicking. Somebody lobbied to have GG removed and TR immediately complied - that's some clout - - it matters not if it was a gaffer or a lackey doing the angling, the outcome remains.
To continue calling the upstart state a 'proxy' seems niaive at this point, imo. Are there many more 'proxies' with the ability to determine a foreign power's foreign policy, legislature, and media content? Which other proxies possess the power to pulverise the whole world?