Do their energy exports count as soft power? Arguably that was working quite well, until they further expanded in to Ukraine.
To me soft power sounds more like culture - being appealing to other country's populations.
There's even a fun parallel to draw with the floating LNG terminals off the coast and WWII floating harbors for Normandy
And there is a whole diplomat generation standing by to be useful idiots again if not an example is placed like a statue every 3 generations.