The much simpler explanation is that Merkel is not an independent agent but the agent of her party, even if the was running it with an iron fist, she was beholden to the whims of the voter base. And the party advertised itself on a platform of "no change". So reliance on gas built up by Gas-Gerd Schröder was never built back but only strengthened as to not endanger status quo.

> Merkel and her cronies are russian agents.

That would imply going against the grain.

Merkel always did what was popular. And not freezing and supporting your industry is popular.

Modern industry requires gas/oil. Green industry requires rare earth minerals. Guess which two countries have huge amounts of those available?

Germany was always in a tight spot.

Depends on Russia for energy, depends on US for security, and exports to China (+future rare earth minerals)