Most commentators have conceded that Putin was provoked: it's not easy to see Russia's complete encirclement, incasement actually, by NATO any other way, as well seeing its assets, in its hour of need, sold off for pennies to Western interests. But it's a question of how far can or should provocation go before becomes justification, before it triggers justified reaction. And, apparently many people didn't see the events between the dissolution of the USSR up to the coup of 2014, the failure to implement the Minsk I and II Accords and the murder of 14,000 ethnic Russians in the Donbas since then as "sufficiently" provocative. There is apparently some very subtle science involved, some imperceptible conjunction of elements and forces that spells "now". But it seems more the case that human instinct and reason has sway here: patience, yes, but too much patience encourages the worst instincts in some people. If Putin had more patience in this he'd be canonized a saint. But that wouldn't help Russia. For Putin, that argument is well over. It's a question of dealing in good faith with the results forced by the West, to find the best way forward.