from Quora

Finland and Sweden joining NATO. As a master chess player, Putin must have foreseen this long ago. Why does Putin want to force Finland and Sweden joining NATO? What he's trying to gain from it?

You put Putin on a pedestal by imagining him as a fine strategist.  It is true that Putin has long had this reputation, but the moves he has made in recent months clearly show that Putin has lost his foresight.

His worst nightmare was to see NATO on his borders. His worst nightmare was to see the West getting stronger again.

Instead of letting the moribund NATO (SELF: Hardly moribund with NATO military exercises and nukes in E Europe!) do its thing, Putin was so afraid of the democracy that was beginning to flourish in Ukraine that he decided to invade Ukraine on February 24, 2022, thinking that no one would do anything except a few words of indignation.

SELF:  The invasion started in 2014.  With 14,000 dead up to Feb 2022 since the violent overthrow by pro-Western firebrands of the pro-Russian President of Ukraine in Feb 2014, the invasion must have started then.  It was like a red rag to a bull to a nationalist and patriot like Putin.

Putin underestimated NATO, the West, and the Ukrainians while overestimating his weak and unmotivated army.

In the end, Putin is getting his worst nightmare and has locked himself into a strategy from which he cannot escape, or else he will be humiliated in front of his people and end up losing their consent. Even people who have been trained by strong propaganda and oppressed would not be able to bear to find out that Putin has started a useless war for the sake of his ego.

The end of Putin has already begun. The beginning of the end is known: February 24, 2022. The exact date of his fall is yet to be determined.