Any uncertainty will raise market prices. Russia still benefits economically from higher gas prices. Also, the reasoning from the Russian leadership has never b

Any uncertainty will raise market prices. Russia still benefits economically from higher gas prices. Also, the reasoning from the Russian leadership has never been very logical. From the decision to attack Ukraine in the first place in 2014 down to the most recent installment. People in the West have misunderstood Russia for centuries. The misunderstanding comes from the fact that for the majority of Russians nationalist feelings of being powerful and feared are more important that economic prosperity. Add to this the widespread idea and a very strong feeling of national superiority (in everything, from culture, to science, to drinking etc - they believe they are simply better than everyone else and they have been engaging in such successful propaganda even people in many other countries actually believe this). Then, everyone is told, "having a strong leader" is in Russian nature. This is bull**, but there is some truth in Russians an masse thinking real democracy is a western ploy to make them weaker so they not just accept dictatorship. They cheer it (unless it happens to draft them into its wars). In addition while they are so superior, it is horribly unfair OTHERS are having it better than them. When those others are far away, they are able to grudgingly accept it, but when countries that were under their occupation(therefore people in those countries were lesser, inferior to them) like Poland achieve economic success(with democracy too!) they think it is not just unfair, but against all the laws of nature. However from the average Russian point of view, Poland is Poland, it is another nation, but Ukraine... they thought about Ukraine as basically the same as them. Ukraine being democratic and successful is precisely so offensive and unacceptable to them because it shows their idea of how to govern themselves and what to believe has been broken for a very long time. It is extremely dangerous for their leaders for the exact same reason. Ukraine shows what Russia could've been. In addition to the above, just like 150 years ago with Poland. The Russian state can't accept the existence of Ukrainians as a separate nation They say it openly. They advocate a genocide of another nation openly and the majority of the population supports it. Why are they so blood-thirsty, one may ask? It is very hard for any normal human with no knowledge of Russian history to understand this, but it is important to understand the mere idea of today's Russia is broken. Russia as it has been for hundreds of years and as it is today is a collection of various national groups. Not just in the Caucasus, but almost everywhere else too. Those other groups outside Moscow are all being exploited. Sure they are being sold an idea of being Russian, but when the time comes, is Putin sending people from Moscow to die? No.Not really. So having one of those national groups (Ukrainians) achieve success outside "mother" Russia (with democracy no less!) is even that much worse. It is not just propaganda that "made Russians bad", it is their entire lifetimes in a broken system. The truth is, as I mentioned before, this is not new. Russia has to experience change similar to what Germany went through after WW2 (well except abolition for all but top level Nazis, but that discussion is for another time). But for that change to happen Germany had to loose a war completely. I fear the same has to happen for Russia before they can change. The first step in getting there is for people in the West to understand how Russians in their mass think. Of course there are many Russians that disagree, but they are in minority, and they have to watch very carefully what they say out loud.