If the Russians can, they will isolate the Americans and protect them. The Russians , if theres a chance wont just brutally slaughter them because they do know whats up. But during air strikes, I hope our guys run for safety.
I hope you’re right. Putin may see this as ‘not taking the bait’ to give Obama a reason to punish Russia if that happened. If Russia knowingly killed our Special Forces team,
John Kerry would run straight to the UN, demanding heavy sanctions and tarrifs against Russia as penalty for their
‘unimaginable cruelty’, as Kerry would describe it.
If the Russians get penalized too heavily, it will financially drain them. Sanctions would slow down or stop their efforts to continue taking The Ukraine and keeping Crimea.
Russia issued a special warning to certain assets in the region to get out of the way before they launched the air war - this was open source but I would not be surprised if there are special communications among warrior elites based on past contacts and respect for their trade