Of course they don’t. They want to reach their strategic goals with minimum cost of course. But right now it looks like they have actually lost on the strategic

Of course they don’t. They want to reach their strategic goals with minimum cost of course. But right now it looks like they have actually lost on the strategic side with NATO expansion accelerated by at least a decade in Sweden/Finland and post Cold War readiness being brought back to Europe at a pace that you wouldn’t have believed a couple of years ago. So the threat hasn’t exactly paid off yet, and what’s worse, they might have painted themselves into a corner where open conflict is the least bad option, at least if Putin wants to save his strong man face (not that the Russian public wants the war despite endless propaganda in every news outlet). Perhaps Putin can accept the de facto re-incorporation of Belarus into Russia that took place last week in plain sight as a win and be happy with that.