Sanctions and free software developers

It's not necessarily the individuals who are kernel developers subject to sanctions who have changed or represent a threat now any more than they ever did. It's the situation they are in / the employers they are associated with and the legal regimes that are in place.

Every country maintains a regulatory and legal environment: citizens, individuals and entities within that country are subject to its laws. Linux Foundation took good legal advice as to possible consequences - as made clear in the article - and were constrained to act accordingly. Governments and legalities tend to take precedence over how we'd like the world to be - some apparent compromises on principles in fact are because of circumstances above and beyond anyone's particular control.