Very cool, if true

Yup. Russia wouldn't be bargaining if it thought it could actually win this. And if we give it to them then I think that would be a mistake.

But promising that you'll do something while the enemy are shelling your cities doesn't feel like something that should be binding.

I'm not actively convinced that they *can* remove the ability of the West to harm them through sanctions. I think that doing so would mean they were a much poorer state, and that this is further than they are willing to go in the long term. (A few months, sure, but permanently moving to that?)