Putin stood at the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi and complained about sanctions. Over 30,000 of them have been imposed on Russia, he said, nearly double the number against all other countries combined. He called it an injustice. As if the world simply woke up one morning and decided to punish Moscow for no reason. The reality is simpler. Russia wages trade wars and blocks transport corridors. It seizes maritime routes and launches military attacks against sovereign states. Then the Kremlin acts surprised when the rest of the world responds with restrictions. The same man who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine now lectures entrepreneurs about unseemly forms of competition. Meanwhile Peskov admits peace talks are in a deep pause. Russia wants negotiations in a different form. to keep destroying Ukrainian cities and killing civilians while demanding that everyone else ignore the cause of those 30,000 sanctions. • Sanctions are a symptom. the symptom of a state that chose war over trade, occupation over cooperation, and terror over diplomacy.