So he's been preparing for this for some time. Russia's going to hurt some, along with the rest of the world for the shutdown of commerce/trade in many places over covid and sanctions always hurt all countries when Russia gets hammered with them.
Russia will feel it but you can be assured so does every other nation.....however Russia has been preparing for it.
“he’s (Putin) been preparing for this for some time. Russia’s going to hurt some”
Both true.
It sure seems that Putin did not anticipate the scale of the Western response - otherwise he would have protected the foreign reserves.
They seem genuinely unprepared for Europe to actually ditch them as an energy supplier, which is a somewhat existential economic threat to Russia.
Also, they clearly were not prepared for the scale of the Military fight they are in, with the degree of Western support they are encountering. The troops heading toward Kiev on the first day of the war literally were bringing their dress uniforms along with them, for a parade afterward.
Finland and Sweden joining NATO after 3/4’s of a century?
Germany suddenly paying the 2% of GDP for their Military budget, effective this year?
Taking more Russian casualties already than the Soviet Union did in a decade in Afghanistan?
Clearly Putin’s preparations were far below what reality is now demanding.