> You mean lockdowns, not the pandemic.

I agree with this part of your post.

> And you mean western sanctions, not Ukraine.

But not this part. Ukraine used to export a bunch of stuff that Russia has now destroyed.

Energy is the most valuable resource in the world. Russia produces a large-ish percentage of the worlds oil and gas: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_exp...

Ukraine doesn’t even list on it. They produce grain the news says… about 1/3 as much wheat as Russia.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-wheat-producing-coun...

I can go on, but to put it simply Russian (and Belarus) GDP is much higher than Ukraine GDP. It’s safe to assume they produce more and strict sanctions on them will have a greater impact. Ukraine is still producing, so some of their goods are still able to come to market. That said, yes some was destroyed / impacted I’m sure — but again, far less than sanctions or the lockdowns.

What would be the long term cost of letting Russia invade neighboring countries without sanctions?

How do we know they'd stop at Ukraine?

The last time the world let a revanchist dictator take whatever European territory he wanted, things got much, much, much worse.

Anyone who wants to can join nato? What is the long term cost of Russia owning Ukraine? Is there any? Russia interferes with our politics but whether they invade other countries most Americans couldn't place on a map doesn't have much to do with that.

What's the cost of Germany owning Sundetenland? Is there any?

The peace for our time. - September 1938, Chamberlain

I mean the difference here is Russia has shown it barely has the competency and supply chain to attack their next door neighbor. Does anyone honestly at this point believe they have the capability to blitz into Europe, or anywhere else really? This isn't nazi Germany that can take the world inch by inch. They will unquestionably be defeated by nato, nukes aside. And their nukes don't care how much territory they have or don't have.

I said nothing none way or the other about what we should do. Simply pointed out a reality around what is causing issues.