I suspect their finances must be in decent enough shape to play the long game without access to their own money the EU is trying to sort how to slap a sheen of legality on the confiscation of it.

I think that’s pretty much a given. I mean they’ve been able to function just fine for three years now without those funds. The reason why I say that Russia is very unlikely to give consent to its frozen reserves being used for Ukraine even in a peace deal that would otherwise be very favorable to Russia is not because they desperately need those funds but because the frozen reserves are a massive poison pill for the Western financial system.

The way i see it Russia is using that money as bait, as a trap essentially almost daring the Europeans to seize it because that will lead to trust in their entire financial system imploding if they cross that line. This however relies on Russia continuing to insist on its lawful ownership of the frozen reserves. I think however that Russia would secretly be quite happy if the Europeans were to make the enormous strategic blunder of pulling the trigger on that theft.

And the smarter Europeans understand this. Problem is that Europe is led by a bunch of fanatics right now who might just be desperate and stupid enough to do it against the advice of their own financial and legal experts.