Okay, let's take this POV and see how it becomes less realistic with each day of the war. Russia in spring of 2022 haven't spent it's massive reserve funds to keep economy afloat, haven't had another 10 rounds of sanctions, haven't turned economy to support the front (one third of it's budget), have objectively better relations with it's partners and the world, haven't had spontanous protests and natural disasters, have had an army to be afraid of (incl. Wagner), have had a thin level of legitimacy in it's law process (before public executions and sentence-laundering for cash or service), haven't had many problems making it extremely fragile, and it's a one way road now. It could've pulled off with minimal repercussions, even declare their targets completed, but now everything is about continuing the war no matter the cost for it's inserted on every level, has too many big names permanently marked with it and without it this state would fold like a house of cards, with everything 'the West' may be afraid of. Now they can explain everything with wartime measures, but if it ends even loyalists would feel it's anticlimatic to get nothing and still suffer consequencies of this pointless campaign they still can't explain even to vatniks. With what I can guess living here, a short stroke of peace can frag this regime, so it would switch to another war just to keep itself safe. Would 'the West' wake up at New York, Ukraine, or New York, USA? They had Russia on artifical respiration 30 years ago, it's not like they can't shoulder this after it's beheaded, they are just afraid of responsibility and setting a precedent other shit states would be afraid of.