@Tacitus
Yeah, but as shown, Putin&Co does not care about morality, laws or international laws but, he has to rationalise it somehow to "sell" it to the broader public and for his yappies to tout it dutifully everywhere regardless wether it's beliaveable, legal or not. They are using it as a signal in a form of submarine warfare to catch any hostile elements, they want people to oppose so as to find them, eliminate them or remove them from public eyes.
Standard commie tactic, they don't care that their lying. They are looking after honest truthful and strong headed young Russians everywhere possible to secure their powerholding.
They will lose the moment it's being questioned and rest of population becomes un-cooperative. That's why they try to instill fear and act as if they strike fear or scare outside forces, the moment Russians know that her neighbours are not afraid of Kremlin, ordinary Russians might stop fearing the Kremlin... it's very simple