I am sure if they wanted to they could wreak havoc on the American and EU energy grids (its hot in America in the summer and an electrical shutdown would slow down the US economy and lower most people's support for this war).
I agree they certainly could if they wanted to, but there are two very obvious problems... hacking things and making normal peoples lives miserable is more America and the Wests speed and not really something Russia is probably interested in doing... of course the west loves to pretend Russia does all the bad stuff the west does and the west would never do it, or if they are caught doing it (like spying on their allies) will claim they only do it because Russia does it and they need to know what Russia or China knows or some such BS.
The second problem I see, and this is the most convincing, is that if Russia did that and got caught... (it will get blamed for it anyway to cover the lack of investment in infrastructure in the west... blame Putin when corruption and neglect is a much more obvious culprit) then would the people capitulate that easily or would they harden up and get tough and demand revenge or increase their support... or create support where there was indifference before?
If the US economy was pumping out weapons and ammo like WWII then it might be worth slowing it down, but really I don't think they would bother... except in response to the west trying to do it to them first.
IF Putin announces how he plans to react, safeguards can be put into play. By keeping his cards close to his chest he has an advantage of being able to hit in the fashion he sees most effective.
If any of those scenarios play out... US forces getting killed in Syria or US ships in the Red Sea or anywhere etc etc... the west is going to blame Putin anyway...
There's also no particular reason why Russia would have to stick with the An-12 as the platform for an operational gunship. Blackwater founder and notorious private military contractor Erik Prince had proposed converting smaller twin-engine An-26 turboprops into side-firing gunships
He is the guy that thought investing in farms in the Ukraine was a really good way to make money...
Russia probably would not benefit from converting a transport plane of any size into a gun ship... the role is a bit redundant, and too vulnerable in most situations...
The slower An-26 has smaller turn radius than the AC-130, An-12 & An-72, so it could deal with surface targets if simularly armed.
Compared with enormously expensive American guided missiles an AC-130 gunship might make some sense, but for Russia... glide bombs and cheap guided weapons... it is bit redundant really.
Newer versions can fire on the move. Very possible and easy to implement.
Correct, at a slight reduction in accuracy both the Pantsir and TOR AD systems can fire on the move, but that is only protection from weapons hitting coordinates. A weapon using laser targeting (SALH) or drone based attack system will hit moving targets as easily as it will hit stationary targets.
Currently, they will not even destroy US drones over the Black Sea
That is an excellent place to start... start dealing with their drones over the region...
Declare a no fly zone taking up most of the Black Sea and say it is a free fire zone so HATO platforms are not to enter at the risk of being mistaken for Ukrainian drones...
But everything I see so far suggests that it will be a weak move in response that will only allow the hawks in Washington more arguments over the dwindling opposition to them as to why they're safe in pushing the boundaries yet further
But you are ignoring that all this escalation by HATO has allowed Russia to also cut ties with the west and sever connections that were not healthy for Russia in the long term. Even just banning food from the EU could not have been done without EU sanctions on Russia as an escalation because as you will understand banning EU food imports violates the WTO agreement.
All the new super weapons that the west has introduced has allowed Russia to test itself against some of the best and most prized systems HATO owns... its vaunted armoured vehicles from transports and tanks through to towed and wheeled and self propelled artillery and its special super accurate super long range ammo... much of which has proven less than stellar.
Russia has adapted and neutralised the threat to the point where the next system was needed.
Before the conflict most western "experts" would say thousands of Stingers and Javelins and those drunk Russian conscripts wont be able to move... their aircraft destroyed and their armour burning in heaps... game over... meet you in Moscow to discuss terms for their surrender... hope the lights are still on and the Russian civilisation has not already collapsed...
Putin/Russia will do nothing. I'm amazed some people still believe in Kremlin.
Nothing will change your views because your views have nothing to do with reality .
You expect Putin to do nothing because you ignore all the things that have happened in the last few years and think Putin has forgotten too.
You are entitled to your opinion and look forward to seeing what happens.
Please remember what you have said though, because hearing you happy that you were so wrong will be amusing, but claiming you always believed Putin could turn around would be very annoying to say the least.