Well they’re being chummy on this issue because they have a number of ‘provinces’ where ethnic whatever Muslims (Uighurs, I believe) are spoiling for a seccesionst fight just like Chechnya, and a boatload of other places. They see this as a very, very dangerous precedent allowing people to redraw borders. As crazy at that may be (/sarc) I agree with them on that principle in the least, not to mention giving islamic insurgents their own country in the middle of Europe...
Russia’s internal issues are less of a problem in their mind than you think. They are considering this yes but it’s not a major concern as long as the oil price stays up.
If anything happens inside Russia they are just going to crush it just like they did Chechnya. They don’t want them getting any ideas but I don’t think any of them (the potential secessionists) have any illusions about what would happen.
Everything right now that Russia does is about the price of oil. It’s their ticket back to true world power status