Putin is all talk most likely. He's gotten very far doing what many would have never thought of; if you have nukes just be real ballsy and people will always back down because they don't want to start a nuclear war. But he doesn't want one either. What so he can live in some underground cave 100 miles underground for the rest of his life? Guy's ed with every election, annexed crimea, et cetera all on the assumption that people will be too pussy to tell him to go himself directly