Putin's Nato card is a ruse. The European part of Russia was actually mostly surrounded by neutral states, only sharing border with Nato in Norway and the Baltics before the war. Now Putin might be even turning formerly neutral Nordic countries towards Nato - any sovereign state will always choose alliance over Russian occupation at a moment's notice. Ukraine was not even close to Nato membership and still very connected to the Russian sphere of influence before the Crimean occupation. Now the only way out of this mess is for Ukraine to either integrate more tightly to West or Russia to completely annex them, thus gaining four new Nato members on its border.

The Cold War is simply over, but the Putin regime does not really seem to have understood it. International commerce despite of military-political differences is the only sustainable way forward. China knows this, and Russia should take a hint.