This is not a game.
Are you sure? It feels like a game to me. May is using this situation to show that she is "strong and stable", and the British media are lapping it up. She gave the biggest ego maniac (okay, maybe the 2nd biggest) in the World a ridiculous, unreasonable headline with the whole World watching, knowing full well what would happen.
And Russia's response has been entirely predictable.
It's all about posturing, and, as ever, is empty and superficial, and is done in an attempt to score cheap points with the electorate. And right now, it's working.
Looks like a game to me.