Yeah that was really unfortunate for the Russians. Knocking Russia out of the top 3 and breaking the lock OPEC+Russia had on the international energy markets was really a bummer for Vlad. He had to cut back on his efforts to "re-unify" the former soviet holdings in Eastern Europe. Imagine the burden on Europeans, having less than 100% dependence on a single source for oil and natural gas? All that competition, driving prices down, it was confusing. Now they're back to depending completely on Russia in most of Europe. Soooo much better for those kids in Ukraine, too.... [do I really need the "sarcasm" sign]??