Speaking to Mir state TV on Thursday afternoon, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that U.S.-Russia relations are “deteriorating, getting worse by the hour. In recent years, the current U.S. administration has already taken several dozen decisions on sanctions with regard to Russia …”

Putin is correct about that deterioration, but he only need look in the mirror to understand why it’s happening. U.S. sanctions and broader U.S. policy toward Russia did not just spring forth from the ether without cause. They are direct responses to varied and repeated acts of Russian hostility against U.S. interests.