Duma lacks any sense of political self-identity, it became a so-called "mad printer" already in mid 2010s. The most easy way to retain influence in the Ukraine was, for Russia, not to play war games. They choose to wage war in most detrimental way possible, so predominantly Russophile regions now suffer without end of torture in sight. Hence it looks like the war itself was the goal, not the kit to reach it, unlike Duma, which can be shuffled back into the black box as soon as one doesn’t need it any more.