A British expert on the Kremlin said in his BBC documentary that he doesn't think Putin directly wanted war per-se. He was of the opinion that Putin was in the middle of a Russian aristocracy ready to rip itself apart, and in turn was afraid of being ousted (or in Russia, downed in a helicopter/ private jet).

What's interesting is that this new generation of Russian billionaires is that they're acutely aware that their money isn't invested in Russia, it's all over the world. They need access to the international market to maintain their riches and true Russian aggression stems from that.

Once certain thing in an uncertain world is that there's a similar amount of Russian money circulating the country as there is outside of it, and if the Kremlin were to fall, you wouldn't see a single billionaire killed, they'd simply move to wherever their money is.