What other weapons could the West wheel out?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDENEUEUEUEU has promised to “ratchet up the pain” for Vladimir Putin over Russian atrocities in Ukraine. The vows wave after wave of “rolling sanctions”. Momentum is growing in the West to fire the two big economic weapons that have so far been kept largely locked in the arsenal: an embargo on Russian oil and gas, and “secondary” sanctions, which would penalise people and entities from other countries that trade with Russia.The European Commission is pushing hard for the to curb Russian energy imports, payments for which help fund Russia’s armed forces. So far, however, the bloc has banned just coal, which makes up only around 5% of Russian hydrocarbon exports to the —and with a four-month phase-out. Big importers, including Germany and Italy, remain wary of an immediate ban on oil or gas. Hungary, whose support is needed because of the ’s unanimity principle, is more strongly opposed, and has called the issue a “red line”.