(gentle) Escalation till the point where Russia will have to give up or concede, something far bigger than Ukraine, from an region with an strategic resource to something digital, like encryption keys or forcing West backdoors in their systems.
That assumes that Putin will prefer to surrender and keep avoiding by all means falling into an end of the world scenario. At least while the push keeps being gentle.
Anyway, the situation is pretty fragile. There are more players in the game, from big economic players and tech companies to individuals that may, by a direct or a false flag operation, do something (like a hack attempt or destruction of system/information) that could trigger a big reaction from one of the sides.
That assumes that Putin will prefer to surrender and keep avoiding by all means falling into an end of the world scenario. At least while the push keeps being gentle.
Anyway, the situation is pretty fragile. There are more players in the game, from big economic players and tech companies to individuals that may, by a direct or a false flag operation, do something (like a hack attempt or destruction of system/information) that could trigger a big reaction from one of the sides.