Russia has been working on legalizing bitcoin for the last couple of weeks. They definitely knew what they were doing.
Sure, bitcoin cannot be banned but let's say the U.S and the EU decide to ban bitcoin just because Russia is using it to avoid their sanctions (or at least use that as an excuse), what do you think would happen then (if we're talking about the price)?
Another thing to keep in mind that most of the bitcoin which were minted back in 2010 and 2011 were from bitcoin miners located in Russia so they have these bitcoins which are so called "untainted". So they are well equiped to move their bitcoins around without detection.
They are very tech savvy and even the US recognizes if they plan to have a cyber themed war with them, they would lose. This has not been hidden on any of the media.