Because it can be politically very expensive to stand up to a dictator. If similar sanctions had been put on Russia in 2014 as was done now, there would have be

Because it can be politically very expensive to stand up to a dictator. If similar sanctions had been put on Russia in 2014 as was done now, there would have been a major political backlash from the resulting economic downturn. The Russian operation in 2014 was perceived with much less outrage than the outright attack two weeks ago, so major sanctions doubling fuel price would have been much more difficult to justify. Even now the West moved initially fairly slowly, leaders gauging the public reaction (and the reaction of others) to the invasion.