The issue with elites is when they engage with this crap it's their citizens that have to suffer the consequences. Putin can absorb the costs, as can the upper middle class in the west. But it's not only the Russian poor that are being most affected (as is typical of tyrannical regimes), it's the American and European working class too.
This is why Trump was much better on the Russia/Ukraine situation. He outright placed sanctions on Russia (which Biden reversed) and threatened to bomb Moscow if Putin invaded Ukraine. Biden reversed those sanctions and promised not to do send troops if Ukraine got invaded, basically inviting Putin to invade.
Trump got something that current leaders are too weak to see. Putin and Xi are bullies and bullies only respond to strength. Look at how Obama reacted about Crimea, Biden now on Russia, letting Putin get away with it and punishing ordinary citizens even in their own countries.