Ukraina valde Ryssland före EU - stora protester som följd, länkar i inlägg2

The first reaction to the first round of U.S. and European sanctions against the Russian ruling elite was laughter. Declared one of those singled out: Whoever put these sanctions together is a “joker.” Indeed, the first set of U.S. sanctions was weak and the European sanctions weaker. This is no longer the case. The Western sanctions bite where they hurt. Moreover, the U.S. Treasury has sent Vladimir Putin a chilling warning: We know where your money is, and we can expose you for what you are.” The Treasury hinted at a “direct (financial) relationship” between Putin and owner of a shadowy oil trading company chartered in Switzerland, who happens to be on the sanctions list.---

The Obama administration’s sanctions list, leaked shortly after his speech by the UK’s well-connected Telegraph, coincides largely with that published by banned Russian blogger-opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, in today’s New York Times (How to Punish Putin). Navalny, a lawyer by training, has devoted his career to exposing corruption at the highest levels of the Putin regime. Navalny’s list, a Who’s Who of Putin’s inner circle, includes Putin’s suspected personal money launderers and bankers and Kremlin-favored oligarchs. Obama’s list spares, for the time being, the heads of Russia’s national oil and gas companies.

According to reports from the Russian web, the U.S. Treasury goes so far as to note that one of those sanctioned, a founder of the shadowy Russian oil trading company, Gunvor, one Gennady Timchenko, “has a direct relationship to Vladimir Putin.”

The furious Putin regime published its own list of sanctions of U.S. figures, most notably, Senator John McCain. Included in the list are none other than Harry Reid and John Boehner. I doubt if any of the U.S. officials have hidden bank accounts in Russia or will be inconvenienced by a ban on travel to Russia.

The freezing of assets and visas of the inner circle cannot be spun as a “joke” even by Putin’s spin masters. Any bravado from those sanctioned will be whistling past the graveyard. Moreover, those spared, such as the heads of the national oil and gas companies, must wait for the axe to fall.---

The impact of these sanctions extends far beyond the inner circle. It sends shudders down the spines of all of Russia’s moneyed elite. Although Putin ordered Russians (presumably excluding his inner circle) to de-offshorize their wealth over a year ago, Russian assets remain conspicuously abroad, concealed behind layers of secrecy that the U.S. Treasury Department can easily penetrate. All Russian citizens with foreign bank accounts, estates, apartments, and children studying at elite Western universities will worry whether they are perhaps next. Among themselves they will whisper: What has this Putin guy got us into? Is there a way to get rid of him?

Reporters on the call heard a stern declaration that 'key sectors of the Russian economy are in play for additional sanctions' if Putin escalates the crisis by invading more of Ukraine, or other nations.
Those economic sectors that the president is focused on, the official said, include financial services, energy, metals and mining, defense and related material, and engineering.