During the USSR’s 73 years of existence, the list of wars it waged is enormous—a total of 25, including conflicts in the Caucasus, the Baltics, Finland, Poland, Germany, Japan, Afghanistan, Spain, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Since 1991, Russia has continued to exist in a state of permanent war: Georgia, Chechnya, Syria, and now the most senseless war of all—against Ukraine. Why? The answer is in the title of this essay: Russia can exist only in a state of permanent war. Therefore, the goal of the Russia-Ukraine war is war itself. Nothing more.