Baltic states had all their industry destroyed. I don't know about GDP growth, I just know that life there is harsher than in Russia and there's no potential fo

Baltic states had all their industry destroyed. I don't know about GDP growth, I just know that life there is harsher than in Russia and there's no potential for improvement: Europe and US do not need another potential competitor, and due to their hatred for Russia they broke all the ties to Russia. So they're like a suitcase without a handle: seem too valuable to throw it out but too inconvenient to continue carrying it. Like Ukraine which EU or US certainly doesn't want to feed but they're unable to provide for themselves. The sure sign of this is that significant portion of their population emigrated to richer European countries, and the remaining population does not reproduce (I assume because there's not enough sustenance to raise kids or no hope for kids to have better future). Crimea wasn't invaded and Crimea has largely Russian population. It's not a hostile racist nation that Russia would have to feed and always expect to stab in the back. Russian people live in Crimea and they're happy to become part of Russia again (source: I have coworkers and friends from Crimea). Besides Crimea has a valuable geographic position.