Russia is the last colonial empire and as such under constant threat of disintegration by the spread of outside political ideologies like ethno-nationalism, liberal democracy or communism (whose introduction by Germany did a pretty "big number" on Russia until Communist Russia eventually faced the same geostrategic power struggle the Tsarist Empire faced).
So when speaking of "aggrevation" always factor in the perspective of the "Empire".
PS: The concept of buffer countries as a peace keeper has been helpful in the past (e.g. Belgium kinda, Austria). I guess Ukraine's role will have to be that of such a buffer.
In any mechanical system, if your design is “lets give one part of the system all the stress” but said component is not proportionately strengthened or incentivized, it fails eventually, bringing the rest of the system down with it.
Well it's a starting point at least (see Austria or Belgium). You would then have to build more peace-keeping infra on top of it (see EU). Which highlights why it was an error to de-buffer Ukraine (also the CIS states surrounding Russia serve more or less this role, although "vassal" would be more appropriate).
Speaking of a mecanical system: In the hiearchy of sovereignity, apart from US, RU and CN all countries are somewhat buffers.
So when speaking of "aggrevation" always factor in the perspective of the "Empire".
PS: The concept of buffer countries as a peace keeper has been helpful in the past (e.g. Belgium kinda, Austria). I guess Ukraine's role will have to be that of such a buffer.