Any assessment saying that the west has been "soft" on Russia has pretty much ignored the entire slate of policies for years -- and is yet more partisan whargarble.

So instead of invoking the armchair brigade, here is a better and much clearer view from someone who is actually an expert on such matters:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/columns/2014/03/03/cold-war-over-russia-isn-zero-sum/Df9VSHeJFpKUz3tRKDjUXJ/story.html