At the same time, with the approval of Putin, cryptocurrency is clearly used there, including to circumvent sanctions and carry out various financial transactions, where this is, of course, possible. This forum has already discussed Russia's crypto-currency assistance to Hamas before their attack on Israel in October last year. Undoubtedly, there are many such examples.
Exactly. Who's to say government officials are using crypto to circumvent sanctions? I'd bet Putin and Russian oligarchs are already doing this. Of course, citizens will be prohibited from doing such a thing. It's what usually happens in authoritarian countries. I think China is in the same boat.
There's nothing the West can do to stop this, especially when crypto/Blockchain tech is decentralized. They'd need to shut down the whole Internet to make it happen. But you and I know that's impossible. Maybe crypto will become the main source of funding for Putin's "war machine" in the long run?