Interesting. Well, there's a lot of counterexamples of that.

Czechs gave Slovakia independence in 1993. Krushchev gave large swatchs of Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic States to their representative local governments. The UK gave over their colonies in India, southeast Asia, and Africa - not to mention the Commonwealth nations. France gave over Algiers. Poland gave over parts of northern Slovakia to Slovakia. Hungary gave parts of northern Hungary to Slovakia. Slovakia gave parts of the Carpathian mountains over to present-day Ukraine.

Actually, there's a number of counterexamples. We could go on and on.

I think that with the right amount of political upheaval and instability, there's always a way. With recession looming in Russia, who knows what the leader might be forced to give up (especially when talks of reparations start for the damage Russia has done to Ukraine thus far).

Always a pleasure to exchange thoughts!

And thanks for reading :)