I agree, A clear cut example of socialism at its finest, pad the pockets with zero forward thinking. I just hope it serves as a wake up call to the hipsters and liberal kids in our countries thinking it is an option.I think I've posted this before, probably in the Climate Change thread: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-021-00934-2.pdf
I think there is a growing scholarly consensus that climate policy has got Russia a little antsy. I think it's generally understood that oil and gas are Russia's biggest geo-political trump card. As Europe moves away from oil and gas as their primary energy source as they pursue net-zero, this will weaken Russia's geo-political importance.
That article explains that if prices come down (when lower demand meets constant production [i.e. supply]), countries whose production costs are high (e.g. Canada and Russia) will be priced out of producing oil. So by driving up scarcity, Russia is hanging on to their geo-political advantage a little longer. Diversifying it's markets, and maintaining access to other growth markets (Africa and India maybe?) is probably also a consideration.
my 2c anyways....