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Putin will obviously want to (re) establish deterrence, but the suggestion that escalation wouldn't interfere with "Trump's argument for dialog" seems far fetched. Putin faces a dilemma similar to what the West faces responding to Russian hybrid attacks: How to inflict enough pain to deter, without starting a shooting war or prompting significant escalation in response. The scope for that seems quite limited, and almost certainly doesn't extend to direct attacks on NATO or nukes