The way to deal with Putin is to have strong military forces oneself and to understand his motivations to avoid conflict.

The West has failed on both fronts.
It is militarily weak and has ignored Putin's very clear red lines about NATO expansion. That is why we have war.

Western leaders are clueless children poking a big bear and then complaining when he swipes them.

Israel is doing much better on being strong and has at least some leaders that understand Russia (eg Lieberman).

We must not join the dangerous and self destructive "Western" response and must follow our own path that reflects our own situation and interests.