Most of what comes out of Russia is performative, and is designed to project strength whether it exists or not. The west has been pretty smart about slowly pushing the red lines -- they've not gone fast enough for Putin to justify any escalation, so this is all just for show and "strong man talk".
The west _used_ to have a fear of Russian aggression, but that appears to have completely evaporated, and it seems unlikely that they are going to get that back without directly engaging the west, which given the continued existence of NATO, is probably Not a Great Idea.
Ironically the Russians came up with "China's Final Warning" which applies to pretty much everything coming out of the Kremlin:
> "China's final warning" (Russian: последнее китайское предупреждение, romanized: posledneye kitayskoye preduprezhdeniye) is a Russian ironic idiom originating from the Soviet Union that refers to a warning that carries no real consequences.