Could deceiving the media win a war?

A basic principle of war is, whoever has the bigger army has a better chance to win. So in some instances just showing your opponent that your forces easily out number there’s can result in a surrender before one shot is even fired. Apparently that is the thinking of the Russians. Building up a massive army and sustaining it is extremely expensive though. so how can a country build up a massive intimidating army and not go bankrupt? Easy. Balloons!!!!
That’s right balloons. But these aren’t your average everyday 4 year old birthday party balloons. No these are life sized, realistic looking, inflatable balloons coated in a special chemical to make them appear is a regular tank on radar and heat sensing devices. Why would they do this though?
Well at first it sounds like they want to trick their enemies into thinking they are much more powerful than they are, resulting in the surrender of those they challenge. No one would ever look to the horizon, see 200 Russian tanks and think they could take that army down with a sharp pointed pencil, except that the Russians told everyone! If thet were trying to trick people into thinking their fake armies were real, why would they tell people their secret plan?
….. Unless they wanted everyone to know they had these balloons. Then if they actually had an unbelievable large army, no one would believe it was real…. Until they were right on top of them and it was too late to do anything about it. by leaking this new weapon to the media no army will actually be 100% sure if they are charging into a battle, or if its just a bunch of balloons.