Sanctions designed to hurt Russia but not West

The range of sanctions that come into force today against Russia chosen by the EU and the US have been very carefully balanced to impact as little as possible on their national interests.

They also target longer- term developments, such as drilling for oil in the Arctic and state-owned banks issuing shares and bonds on European markets and apply to all EU citizens.

EU officials refused to say what the cost to the Russian and EU economies might be but said they were conducting stress tests, including on the likelihood of Russia cutting off gas supplies and hoped to have a full analysis in October for the next ordinary EU summit.