‘Thugs and bullies’: Nations sanction Russia over Ukraine

(Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

World leaders are seeking to back up their tough words over Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, announcing financial sanctions, trade and travel bans and other measures meant to pressure Moscow to pull back from the brink of war.

But even as they ramped up penalties, nations in Asia and the Pacific also prepared for the possibility of economic pain, in the form of cuts to traditional energy and grain supply lines, and also retaliation from Russian cyberattacks.