Consuming 15% less gas does not hurt Putin. On July 24, Gazprom, the Russian gas company, reached a new all-time high of sales to China, and Chinese consumption via gas pipeline has skyrocketed in the last twelve months. Since the invasion of Ukraine, China has imported more than $25 billion of energy products from Russia and in June those imports increased by 72% compared to the previous year.
The European Union seems to take energy measures thinking that the rest of the world does not exist. It is impossible to think of an energy embargo on Russia while the rest of the world, especially Asia, takes advantage of the discounts offered to consume greater volumes of Russian energy products.