Putin, on the other hand, appears to be driven more by his own grandiosity and narcissism than by ideology. It appears to me that he would like to expand the footprint and greatly increase the power of Russia - but not necessarily put back together the same political/ideological structure. Doesn't matter entirely, because it would still be a dangerous top-down somewhat totalitarian nation. Worse, they've learned their lesson about how economic success drives military strength, while at the same time we are destroying our own economic strength.
Putin’s move in Ukraine is the classic response mandated by Russian military doctrine.
Every military man who studied Soviet doctrines during the cold war could have told you that when the European Union made moves to start moving Ukraine towards membership there would be a military response. We can also tell you that there is not a political solution that gets Ukraine into the European Union. Only military solutions.
Since the European Union doesn’t have a military worth mentioning, it behooves them to back out. This can not possibly go well for them.
Putin does have a big ego, but that is not what is driving this.