It sounds unthinkable but I think such a scenario exists where economic sanctions have the same effect on Russia today as they had on Japan in 1941. Japan had no choice but to attack.

So Putin can see right now there is no going back from this. The leaders of the NATO countries have all revealed they harbor a hatred of Russia to the point where they are supporting and complicit in the killing of Ukraniian civilians just so they can blame Russia for it. It is much like they have all gone completely insane. (I really do think that is entirely possible due to sars-cov-2 infection or the vaccines or both).

So if the sanctions and threats caused Putin to decide he has no choice but to take out the main protagonists today, London and Washington would cease to exist as a functioning governments. He could then send a message to the rest of NATO saying ok. We can stop right here and start over with a clean slate or you can launch a retaliatory strike in which case the Russian response to that will ensure we will all suffer the same fate. Would the rest of NATO launch that suicidal retaliatory strike or would they fold?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17940186/russia-footage-zircon-hypersonic-nuke-missile-hit-london/