But despite appearances, some experts say Putin is more likely seeking advantage through diplomacy than on the battlefield, at least this time around.
For two years, Russia has been under US and EU sanctions over its annexation of Crimea and support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine. European leaders say the sanctions cannot be lifted unless the Minsk peace deal is implemented, but for now it looks moribund, with fighting occasionally flaring and both sides blaming each other for failing to implement truce terms.
Over the last few days, tension escalated dramatically after Putin threatened to take unspecified counter-measures against Ukraine to retaliate for what his spies say was a plot to bomb targets across contested Crimea. Putin said two Russian servicemen were killed in a clash with Ukrainian saboteurs sent to Crimea.
Kiev says the incident never happened, and was concocted to create a phoney pretext for a new invasion. The United States and European Union also say there is no evidence it took place.
Whether the plot is real or imagined, Moscow has cranked up its military activity in Crimea at the same time as holding a series of what it says are pre-planned war games and missile deployments in the area.
Putin, who flew into Crimea yesterday in a show of support, convened his Security Council and cancelled the next round of international talks meant to turn the shaky ceasefire in eastern Ukraine into a lasting peace.
But his response – deliberately refocusing international attention back on eastern Ukraine and the lack of progress in implementing a peace deal there – suggests Putin is trying to milk the latest Crimean crisis as part of a diplomatic power play he hopes will eventually kill Western sanctions.
European talks between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany meant to ensure the peace deal’s implementation have so far run into the sand. And talks between Victoria Nuland, US assistant secretary of state, and Vladislav Surkov, a Russian presidential aide, have not generated a breakthrough either.
In the meantime, pro-Kremlin separatists continue to control two self-declared republics in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, where low-level fighting with Ukrainian government forces continues, sometimes flaring up in a big way, despite the ceasefire.
Putin yesterday said he hoped Ukraine would see “common sense” when it came to resolving a diplomatic crisis over the peninsula. But that should apply to all parties involved in the conflict.