Sanctions and War-Crime Charges May Block Peace

Western actions may inadvertently make peace less attractive to Putin: decentralized sanctions, corporate boycotts, and lost oil/gas markets that won't easily reverse turn sanctions from conditional repression into unconditional costs, while formal war-crimes proceedings raise the risk of extradition or a palace coup if he steps down, so the absence of a 'golden bridge to retreat' increases the private incentive to keep fighting.