You've got it backwards. Russia started this war by first conquering a piece of territory by conquest 9 years ago and then continuing now. And it's actually Put

You've got it backwards. Russia started this war by first conquering a piece of territory by conquest 9 years ago and then continuing now. And it's actually Putin who used this war and conflict with the west to change the regime in Russia from quasi-democracy to dictatorship already: he used it to bolster public support 9 years ago, rode that wave to elections, re-wrote constitution allowing him to stay in power and used the war to completely crush any resemblance of internal opposition.