Is this just a phase or is this the new russia for centuries to come? we need to read if it is something that will be passed onto every leader after putin and is a shared foreign policy because if it is, it doesn't matter if he has an official USSR or if he has client states, the same thing your just free to operate with possibly a gun or other leverage to your head in your region or even somewhere else.
I am sure he knows when a certain politician seeks guns for his factions from his supply stores cause they just go and buy it from some little re-seller in his region. Considering how bad he could've of gotten even like what's happening in Syria, there is no advantage when he increases the type of weapons in your regional store as all warring parties upgrade and check each other, only thing that increases is your dead bodies nothing else.
We are very lucky we had just small weaponry available, it's better fighting a low intensity war cause you can still win with strategy and the death toll is minimal and you still achieve the win or control of the other area, it's not the weapons and how big damage you do because the other side will do the same if it's available to him.
If this is the new russia for a few centuries, they are very reliable and dont have this up and down crap and stooges placed in their admins, they wipe anyone out who disturbs them. You can't use a game he mastered back on himself, it's pointless. The best hope we have is having a good relationship with him so we can keep that silk road stable while we venture off on our own path.