This article is missing the point. If the price of energy is below the cost for Russia, the sanctions are working. The sanctions is that they will not pay market price for that energy.
That misses the fairly obvious point that Russia uses Roubles, which it issues.
If Russian Gas is sold for any foreign currency amount at all, then that is foreign currency it can use elsewhere. Russia can maintain the operational plant with its own money.
Market price is irrelevant. Gas is swapped for items Russia can't make itself. Russia isn't interested in foreign tokens. It's interested in foreign made stuff.
I can't think of a single example of "minting money to pay for war" ever went poorly for any nation. Nope, not a one. It has certainly never once destroyed a leader or his entire nation.
Are they below the cost or below the market price? If they're below the cost, it would mean that Russia is just spending money to provide Europe with gas, which does not make any sense. But if it's simply below market price it means that Russia is still turning a profit on the gas, just not as much as it could have otherwise.
