And sometimes things are just that - stupid. Putin uses fear mongering to appear more important than he is. As a soon has he faces resolute and strong response,

And sometimes things are just that - stupid. Putin uses fear mongering to appear more important than he is. As a soon has he faces resolute and strong response, he hides with his tail between his legs. If you want to stress cultural nuance here, you can look into Russian criminal subculture, which will give you a very good idea about Putin's modus operandi. It doesn't mean you should underestimate the damage he can cause. But you shouldn't assign him more value or long term thinking than he actually has. That's exactly what Putin wants - not to appear as sheer mediocrity that he is.