Putin may be a pre-Glasnost Russian oligarch, but he was raised in the world of intrigue and not the world of finance.
Perhaps he miscalculated while he was busy preparing military plans to defend his temporal sphere of influence? His economy's collapse was entirely predictable. What he did not learn in KGB spy school is that capitalist economies are interrelated. Interdependent. And dominatable by the biggest bully on the block.
So once you plugged into world finances you are subject to risk of economic warfare. And the US can swamp anyone, even allies, when and if it chooses. Just ask Canada about all the trade sanctions against the US for unfair / protectionist practices they simply ignore - wood, salmon, - and keep going.
http://gwynnedyer.com/2014/oil-blind-sided-by-technology/
Sanctions were not the biggest weapons in the American arsenal. Oil independence means their demand can be used as a weapon against corrupt governments as Gwynne Dyer explains above. They can turn production up and drop the ruble to nothing.
And it gets worse if you are Russia. What people forget is that the US has a strategic ban on oil exports. They are artificially lowering supply, not just lowering their purchase of oil, due to the 40 year embargo on oil export thanks to OPEC and the 1978 crisis. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-11-05/bhp-billiton-starts-exporting-u-dot-s-dot-oil
All that needs to happen to make the Russian economy - in these worsening times - drop to zero is to allow US companies to dump oil on the market.
So Putin can celebrate liberating a few hectares of land. Maybe that will comfort the Russian people unemployed in bread lines?
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