I agree. It would be their best shot at inflicting some damage before they inevitably had their asses handed to them.
The problem for Russia is that if their planes entered Kosovo airspace, NATO could obliterate them pretty handily - so Russia's best bet is to try and get as many Russian troops into Serbia as they could before Romania's government formally requested NATO aid for the violation of their airspace.
So Russia could deploy a bunch of their troops on the Serbia-Kosovo border, as you say.
If they invaded Kosovo at that point, NATO would make short work of them - and Russia would have real difficulty extracting their troops from Serbia after the failure of their little adventure.
What Russia sees here is a confluence of political and economic ($100 oil) events that can help them gain leverage with the EU.
Putin isn't stupid enough to initiate a war that would expose how weak Russia's military really is without gaining him any material advantage.
China is backing Russia and Serbia.
agreed. Still wouldn’t be surprised if he mobilized a few airborne battallions and moved them into Serbia and then made a bunch of bluster, and try to force our hand in that manner.
Or, conceivably, he could move troops into Odessia after a independence declaration there. Gerogia would be a lot easier for him to move troops into then would Serbia
If Putin wants, he can create some headaches for us, its just a matter of how hard he wants to press this thing