I’m convinced he WANTS the sanctions…that they are the point of all this. It will divide Europe. They need his juice.
Who would make up the sides of this divide?
Germany who relies on russian nat gas and is trying to get the pipeline built and France and the UK that might be able to do without.
The US would actually be a pretty big beneficiary of Russia doing this and sanctions being applied because we are already a net exporter of liquid natural gas and would stand to benefit greatly from Europe becoming more reliant on the US as opposed to Russia's pipeline.
I just can't really see why Russia would go through with a 20th century style invasion when they are able to create so much tension and probably still get what they want ultimately with the pipeline to Germany. It is not in their interest to actually invade and get the sanctions, it is in their interest to keep this high stakes tension and keep not invading to get further concessions.