Since Europe is Russia's biggest trading partner, sanctions could be a lot worse. But that would also heavily influence the daily lives of a lot of Russians. Since Europe accounts for 46% of Russian exports.
I think you grossly underestimate the impact that heavy sanctions could have on the daily lives of Russians. The sanctions were NOT targetting the Russian people, but at making the lives of the responsibles less comfortable ( eg. the leaders/rich people).
And while Russia likes to publicly partner with China, they seem to forget that China literally does nothing for them (economically).
Edit ( since you adjusted your post):
Source:
https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/coun... ( trade )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Crimea ( population of Crimea)
> This sound to me as a Russian a complete nonsense. An average Russian couldn't have hated Russia more for what it is, let alone opting to jump into the "warm embrace of the fatherland" once they got out.
I've only mentioned the spoken language in Crimea, not about the sentiment. Do not change my words, none of your last assumptions are correct and i don't even know Pravda ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Edit 2: I reread my comment, i did add "in theory" there, as I did not know much about the exact situation. I do agree, it could have been more clear.
But i did not say that they wanted to join Russia. I suggested ( or meant to) that there was a chance and that i did not know about the sentiment there.