Not everyone's impressed by the sanctions, I guess.
From Washington correspondent Luke Johnson (@Johnson). VTB is the biggest of the trio:
The U.S. Treasury Department added three banks to a list of sectoral sanctions and sanctioned one shipbuilding company on July 29 in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine.
Bank of Moscow, Russian Agricultural Bank, and VTB Bank were added to a list of companies to which U.S. persons and firms are barred from providing financing for longer than 90 days or issuing new equity for the companies.
However, U.S. individuals are not barred from doing business with them.
United Shipbuilding Corporation of St. Petersburg, Russia, which is state-owned, was added to a list of entities with which U.S. individuals are prohibited from doing any business.
Here's our related newsroom item with the background:
The U.S. government has accused Russia of conducting tests that violate a 1987 nuclear-missile treaty that Washington says is "a very serious matter." A U.S. administration official said President Barack Obama notified Russian President Vladimir Putin about the charges in a letter on July 28. The U.S. says Russia tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev some 27 years ago. The treaty was designed to eliminate ground-launched missiles with 500 to 5,500 kilometer ranges. The findings will be in a State Department report on arms-control treaty compliance due out on July 29. Washington has expressed concern over possible violations before but this is the first time it has formally accused Russia of violating the treaty.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that given Moscow's actions in Ukraine and EU warnings, "[t]he decision today [to impose further sanctions] was thus unavoidable," Reuters reported. (AFP translated that last word as "inevitable.")
"It is now up to the leadership in Russia to decide whether they want to go the way of de-escalation and cooperation," Merkel said. "The EU sanctions can be reviewed but further steps are also possible."
Paul Goble cites Sobkorr.ru on the lessons of the surprisingly long history of the "Donetsk Republic":
This prehistory is important for two reasons. On the one hand, it lends support to those who argue that Vladimir Putin began planning for his aggression in Ukraine at the time of his war against Georgia, calculating that the limited Western response to his actions in the Caucasian country opened the way for a move against Ukraine.
Additionally, it highlights the need to monitor such groups elsewhere. Because such online communities may be an important way for the Russian security agencies to identify and recruit those they would like to employ in the future. The groups might even help to assess how much of an opportunity for Moscow any particular one presents.