The sanctions had extremely high public support. And not just passive support, byt pretty activen public demand; e.g. it seemed pretty obvious at the time that

The sanctions had extremely high public support. And not just passive support, byt pretty activen public demand; e.g. it seemed pretty obvious at the time that the German government was doing everything they could to avoid sanctions that could in any way impact the energy trade but the public uproar forced their hand. Just go and check the opinion polling from the time; it'll be like 80% in favor of full economic sanctions, while other survey questions make it clear that the respondents also know it will cause increases in energy prices. Here's a couple of examples to get started, but I'm sure you'll want to do your own research instead: [0] [1] And sure, there's variation by geography / proximity to russia. But it's nowhere near as strong an effect as you claim. [0] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/files/be-heard/eurobarometer/2022/public-opinion-on-the-war-in-ukraine/en-public-opinion-on-the-war-in-ukraine-20220318.pdf https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/files/be-hear... [1] https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/deliverable/download/file?deliverableId=81594 https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/deliverable/download/fil...