[api]

My guess is that he caught wind of an attempt on his life or that he was going to be thrown under the bus and blamed for the whole debacle. In that case he would not have much to lose.

Maybe he hopes NATO, the US, or someone else will back him. Craziest thing would be for him to try to ally with Ukraine, but Ukraine could only help him by distracting the Russian army.

Or maybe he’s made a deal with someone like resource hungry India or China for support in exchange for ensuring that the spice will flow and at a very reasonable price.

Russia sits on enough natural gas and metals alone to make it one of the biggest prizes for kleptocrats in the world. See: the resource curse.