Wealthy and powerful who wanted us to replace Yanukovich in Ukraine are learning they were wrong.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

54. You actually believe that?

Russia is almost entirely dependent on revenue from energy sales to Europe for its foreign exchange.
Here's a breakdown of their exports:

Russia’s Top 10 Exports (link: http://www.worldstopexports.com/russias-top-10-exports/2350 )
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Russian global shipments during 2012. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Russia.
Mineral fuels including oil: $375,423,947,000 (71.6% of total exports)
Iron and steel: $22,601,664,000 (4.3%)
Fertilizers: $11,176,846,000 (2.1%)
Inorganic chemicals: $7,835,699,000 (1.5%)
Machinery: $7,609,061,000 (1.5%)
Aluminum: $7,281,329,000 (1.4%)
Wood: $6,731,569,000 (1.3%)
Cereals: $6,246,547,000 (1.2%)
Copper: $5,787,339,000 (1.1%)
Organic chemicals: $4,516,890,000 (0.9%)

That's the export profile of a third world country dependent on the export of extracted raw materials for its survival. The idea that the West would suffer from Russia becoming economically independent (which is impossible for any country, but doubly so for a raw materials exporter like Russia) is laughable in the extreme.
They have reserves, and they are relatively well-governed fiscally, so they could last a while if they cut off Europe from its gas lines. But Europe would find a way, and is indeed doubtless in the process of rapidly finding a way right now, to get by. Russia has no alternative but to sell that energy. It can't survive otherwise.