At last, the West is hitting Putin where it hurts

Whether Russia no longer receives luxury goods from Europe is actually completely irrelevant to the course of the war. And in crucial areas the sanction packages were repeatedly watered down to the lowest common denominator, especially in the EU. On oil, for example, Western governments opted for a price cap in order not to destabilise the global energy market. Russia was still allowed to export oil, but only up to a certain price. That was clever in theory, but it allowed Moscow to continue earning money. The big moves that could have really put Russia in trouble did not happen. Instead, there were many small pinpricks."