The EU's financial sanctions on Russia were pretty obviously structured to make it as difficult and painful for Russia as possible to stop selling gas to Europe

The EU's financial sanctions on Russia were pretty obviously structured to make it as difficult and painful for Russia as possible to stop selling gas to Europe. In particular, the seizure of their foreign reserves - which they were not expecting to happen, and which they were likely counting on to be able to use gas supply as leverage like they have before - means that the only way to get hard currency to spend on things is by continuing to sell gas. Also, what people don't realise is that Russia was clearly preparing to use control of Europe's gas supplies as a weapon even back in 2021, reducing supplies and depleting their storage in a way that couldn't be explained at the time.