Forget the economy - they, like you, are motivated by a combination of revanchist and irredentist sentiment. Eventually, historians may come to see the period just after the Cold War as the interwar years, much as they now see the period between WWI and WWII. Russia's tens of thousands of nukes prevented a definitive resolution of Russia's claim to universal empire, much as Germany was too strong, even at the end of WWI to defeat unconditionally. If next war to keep Russia in its cage goes nuclear we will see casualties on both sides that dwarf WWI and WWII combined. Unfortunately, this may play out like the Greek tragedies of antiquity, completely foreseeable yet equally quite inevitable.
The wars since WWI resemble the Punic Wars, only question being who will emerge as Rome and be the last man standing?