Because previous political leaders of important countries made very unserious decisions to become dependent on energy from Putin. Some of these leaders got cus

Because previous political leaders of important countries made very unserious decisions to become dependent on energy from Putin. Some of these leaders got cushy jobs at Putins pet companies after leaving office. On top of that they also decided to make a big transition in energy, but on the cheap. They made a bet that they could move to intermittent energy sources without breaking the bank, and by ignoring fundamental power engineering. A key part of this strategy was to fill in for what intermittent sources could not supply by increasing energy reliance on energy from Putin (more natural gas and coal). So these countries started turning off nuke and coal plants. This was a really bad bet, and they were told very publicly that it was a bad bet, because it was highly unlikely that Putin would not take advantage of the situation. In 2014, Putin took advantage of the situation. Putin shot down an airliner, took over Crimea, and killed a lot of people. These important countries doubled down on their bet on Putin and appeased Putin with a nice settlement - Putin got eastern Ukraine and Crimea. And they agreed to become more dependent on energy from Putin. This year, figuring he had everyone whupped good and proper, Putin went for broke and decided to take over all of Ukraine, starting by killing the leader of Ukraine. Despite many attempts, this has failed, and these important countries have suddenly realized what others had been telling them for years. The cost of disentangling from Putin is now very high, and you're seeing that in energy costs.