No, I would gently submit that they are provoking Western media to give them lots, and lots, of free publicity. Western countries are not going to give Russia

No, I would gently submit that they are provoking Western media to give them lots, and lots, of free publicity. Western countries are not going to give Russia any kind of hell that Russia´s rulers will really care about. Russia is a major gas and oil supplier to the entire of Western Europe.