President Vladimir Putin of Russia is not veering from the mythology he created to explain away the crisis over Ukraine. It is one that wholly blames the West for provoking a new Cold War and insists that international sanctions have not grievously wounded his country’s flagging economy.

He told the story again on Friday at a business forum whose purpose was to give weight to that fantasy. It drew at least 24 chief executives of Western companies, some of whom attended even though their governments had urged them not to.

Despite Mr. Putin’s skill at using foreign executives as props, he is looking more desperate than confident that he will win the confrontation with the West.

It will be a big setback for Mr. Putin if, as expected, European Union foreign ministers formally extend sanctions on Russia by six months when they meet this week in Luxembourg. Ever since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea forced NATO and the European Union to react, he has worked to split the trans-Atlantic alliance, and some believe its collapse is his real goal.