That's a weak effort, even by your standards. Read this:
Putin is concerned that his popularity is dropping quickly as the Russian economy is in the crapper and covid is running out of control. So a quick patriotic war will fix things for a while. It has in the past. Make people feel like the west is out to get them, rally around Putin again. Crisis over for ~18 months.
And tell me this couldn't be equally as applicable:
Biden is concerned that his popularity is dropping quickly as the American economy is in the crapper and covid is running out of control. So a quick patriotic war will fix things for a while. It has in the past. Make people feel like the east is out to get them, rally around old glory again. Crisis over for ~18 months.