The more they try to 'cool it' - the hotter it gets! These are people sandbagging against a tsunami for the sole purpose of hoping to maintain their power even as all goes up in flames where little to nothing will remain - certainly, not them. It's the 'appeasement' strategy taken to another level. What we see unfolding in Belarus will soon overtake Russia, itself. PErhaps, that's the tradeoff they want so as to not have to go into open war - but this is a miscalculation. War is the only way to avoid the real catastrophe.