This isn’t any news!! USSR operated this way for multiple years! Pretend to work - pretend to get paid economy.
I had thought the old Soviet Union/Russian Federation had busted its horns long ago with the debacle that was Afghanistan. The Russian Mafia set up and made sure the cash flow from petroleum and natural gas was coming in, but there has been little real dynamic growth of a wider industrial base.
Now, the supply of petroleum and natural gas from the Russian heartland is under a threat of a great deal of disruption. This does not bode well for either Russia or the bulk of European countries that have come to depend on the natural gas supply.