He got fired for that? I think that was a fairly good analysis to be honest. I do think Russia is primarily looking for respect. It seems hard for a lot of people to grasp this as they seem to always think of every new adversary as the next Hitler. Some megalomania intend on world domination.

You can look for respect while also being an asshole. It is not like the fact that Russia is badly behaved means that they are looking for something else.