Western sanctions against Russia protect Russia better than the Iron Curtain.

The same applies to Cuba and North Korea. Without sanctions, the US economy would crush the ailing economies of those countries. But in Russia, the only powerful forces are hackers, raiders, racketeers, blackmailers, extortionists, reputologists, populists, totalitarians and militarists, ideologists, propagandists, agitators and provocateurs, Nazis, fascists, racists, sodomites, pedophiles and zoophiles, necrophiliacs and necromancers, extremists and terrorists. And they are all under the control of the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the GRU, and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), or so these agencies claim. Western countries need to focus on improving the well-being of their populations and increasing income growth, and then their budgets will be abundantly filled.