Whilst you have a spineless maggot in the White house (passion fingers) you are going to get this. Basically Putin has a finite amount of time to get what he wants.
There is only one way to deal with him, and thats man up and call the bluff. But make sure you have a little candy spare to give, so he can save a bit of face. Another words don't completely back him into a corner.
Basically from all the corners of the world, every one is taking advantage of the power vacuum. Surpised nobody's metioned the Chinese and the south China sea.