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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%27s_final_warning

Yours is an interesting take. Do you mean that Russia is afraid of the consequences of hitting NATO? Do you mean they are afraid NATO could attack it and destroy their country? I am not sure that may be the case. Ultimately, they did go ahead with their SMO in Ukraine. They are fighting, dying, and do not seem afraid of war. NATO, to the contrary, does not seem to have the leadership to take up a real war, besides their many hysterical Russophobic leaders, especially in the Baltics and Eastern Europe. Could it be that Russia may assess a large war as highly likely and is biding its time to build more weapons and prepare for it? Because that is a very valid alternative to your hypothesis.