The United States and its NATO allies have stressed repeatedly that Russia's use of force to seize portions of Ukraine is reprehensible. They were emphatic on that point in 2014 when the Kremlin responded to the West's role in overthrowing Ukraine's democratically elected, pro-Russian president, Victor Yanukovych, by taking control of the Crimean Peninsula and then annexing it after a rigged referendum.  The furious NATO powers imposed a variety of economic sanctions against Russia.  Secretary of State John Kerry and other Western officials stated explicitly that such behavior was utterly unacceptable in a "rules-based" international system.

U.S. and European leaders took an even more hardline stance in February 2022 when Russia escalated the confrontation with Kyiv by launching a full-scale invasion and occupying major portions of Ukraine's Donbass region. Washington and its allies promptly imposed a new array of even harsher economic sanctions on Russia.  They also deepened their involvement in the dispute by providing weapons sales and other military aid to Kyiv, transforming the fight between Ukraine and Russia into a de facto NATO proxy war against Russia.