After a series of moves that proved far more effective, but were almost as complicated as the Acme Corporation strategies Wile E. Coyote employed in pursuit of the roadrunner, Russia dropped an anvil on Ukraine and annexed Crimea. In response, Ukraine’s acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk signed a political association agreement with the European Union (EU), and the United States slapped sanctions on some of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s wealthy allies and Bank Rossiya.
The EU also took action although the BBC reported Russia’s foreign ministry called the European Council’s decision to impose sanctions “regrettable” and “detached from reality.” European and Russian economies are interdependent. Twenty-five percent of the EU’s gas comes from Russia, and more than one-half of Russia’s budget is derived from oil and gas sold to the EU. In addition, experts cited by the BBC indicated sanctions on Bank Rossiya could tie up monetary transactions in EU banks and potentially affect individual European countries’ business dealings with Russia if economic sanctions are implemented.
