There is no threat level increase. Putin won’t incinerate his grandchildren and hand a depopulated and irradiated Russia to China because he can’t annex Ukraine.
That’s what a sane man would do. Are you SURE he is sane?
Were you alive in 1980? Imagine Mexico in talks with Moscow about joining the Warsaw Pact? Would you think the threat level in the US would remain the same? Of course not. Same difference here, try to look at this from Russia’s perspective. Not understanding your enemy in a nuclear age couldn’t be anymore dangerous.