Not just economics but because there was no good reason to. How would Russia have benefited from attacking European & Nato countries, their energy customers, prior to 2014? Even post 2022, it wouldn't be in Russia's interest to attack NATO & draw them further into the conflict. So why would they do it?
Taken from elsewhere
?to stoke national pride and draw eyes away from domestic failures. It provides propaganda opportunities, new resources, and a great distraction?.
Russia is a shadow of its former self as the once mighty Soviet Union and Putin takes its weakened state personally - he is a meglomaniac, unhinged, quite possibly irrational, cutting of his nose to spite his face. A bit like Trump in many ways. What did the USA have to gain by bombing Iran? Did they want Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz and to make themselves look like complete idiots on the world stage, was that their game plan? Unhinged, irrational, dangerous, greedy.
Putin thought he could roll into Ukraine, blow up a few buildings, hang Zelensky from a lampost and be greeted by its 40 million inhabitants as a hero and saviour. He didn?t think things through, he didn?t bank on the war dragging on for years, nor did he apparently forsee the fact that the rest of Europe would seize Russian assets and impose punitive sanctions. There was no good reason for the war in Ukraine apart from power grab and for self-aggrandisement. Ukraine wasn?t planning to invade Russia, neither was NATO, the so-called de-nazification thing is a confected nonsense, a Putin pretext, since when did Nazis ever elect a Jew to lead them?
