What does "contain" mean? Your choice to use such a non-concrete word is the word choice of a propagandist. It sounds soooo sinister! But when you concretely describe the actions taken, you realize that containment is a perfectly morally justified and not at all mean thing to. "Containment" means that the USA refuses to buy or sell certain things to Russia, and pressures its allies to do the same. Russia doesn't have a right to buy and sell stuff with us. That's perhaps the most important, concrete meaning for containment.