> What's always conveniently left out of lists like this is the greater context in which it occurred. Any state will go to great lengths to protect themselves and ensure their survival.

Putin isn’t worried about Russia’s survival or livelihoods. The country would’ve been an even richer Norway with all the natural resources and opportunity to trade with both mature European and emerging Asian countries. Instead they can’t even go a decade without invading any neighboring countries or a week of not threatening nuclear annihilation. It’s a national inferiority complex.