I've been seeing a lot lately about how this whole thing is sort of a short-sighted and rather desperate point of opportunism for Putin, personally. He's provoking confrontations, setting himself up against the West as an enemy not because he wants conflict or more territory or even cares about the West, but because he's increasingly unpopular at home and fears unrest or replacement, and is trying to direct the Russian gaze outward at foreign enemies. This is why his government has been pushing against homosexuality (represents the West), pro-Nazi western-supporting groups (same), etc.
But that on the world stage, he fears China far more than he does the West. He's taken a stand against the West because he feels comfortable the wilingness of the West to push back is minimal. But He's running out of options, because it's becoming increasingly clear that he can't take any more active engagement with China as it would put Russia as the weaker partner and his credibility won't survive it - and with the fact that much of eastern Russia is now "ethnically Chinese", he's desperately afraid they might do the same to him that he's doing to Crimea and there's basically nothing he could do to stop them if he wanted to.
Don't know how much that holds, but it DOES seem like Russia is starting conflicts it believes it "can't really lose" even if the actual gains are minimal, and it seems like a decent explanation of why - using it as a unifying excuse to maintain power back home, and as a "safe" display of power when dealing with the rest of Asia.