[beardyw]

"People in Russia rely on our services to access quality information and we'll continue to keep free services such as Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Android and Play available."

Maybe the assumption was that without revenue they would go away.

[ordu]

It was popular between Russian patriots to believe in a cunning plan of Putin. The phrase "хитрый план" (cunning plan) is a separate meme. But lately I believe they have no plans. They just do what they can, without thinking too much about consequences. And our Zombie-patriots never mention any cunning plans anymore, so it seems their beliefs in this regard are consistent with mine.

It is probably a propagandist action, like "see, we are fighting with evil Google and winning". There is no point to seek any deeper plans.

YouTube is a particular nail in the ass for Putin, because there are no reliable alternative in Russia. Rutube doesn't seem to be an alternative. They cannot just block YouTube. But they are talking about it a lot. So... "Lets do something, lets fine it at least, it would seem like we are fighting". It is like Cornelius Fudge imprisoning Hagrid not because Hagrid was guilty, but because Fudge needs to be seen actively doing something.

[dredmorbius]

Tactical brilliance and utter disregard of consequences (often with a strong level of immunity or impunity) are difficult to distinguish.

The latter is ultimately a survivorship game, however, with strong survivor bias.