A couple of noteworthy things happened to Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
First, he got bit, badly, by sanctions. On Monday, he cancelled the South Stream gas pipeline, a $50-billion project intended to deliver Russian natural gas across the Black Sea into Europe, after the European Commission blocked it as part of a mounting campaign to isolate Russia economically for having annexed Crimea and set off a war in eastern Ukraine. On Thursday, he gave a budget speech seething with anger at the effects of sanctions: It included a 5-per-cent budget cut and a draining of Russia’s strategic reserve fund to prop up the banks.
Read Full Article »