You're right, nobody should be surprised by what's happening. No Russian president would have let the Pentagon lay out bear-traps in Russia's front garden; certainly not Putin.
It's sad that we're seeing these two players wrestling each other on European ground as mere bystanders like it's 1961 or something. Seems like nothing changed too much, only the playground moved a little east.

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu