After winning a major victory by annexing Ukraine with very little resistance, Putin quickly develops plans to invade Kazakhstan and attempt to gain more territory on the same day he begins an invasion of the Baltic States. His achievement of both these goals gained him attention from China, which he hoped to form an alliance with along with Iran, and let Europe know that he was a serious threat. Russia was one of the few nations that escaped financial collapse due to Putin's governing style, which he took credit for even though it was unintentional, so most countries could not successfully go against him without backing, which was hard to come by since the UN, NATO, and EU collapsed.