Sanctions targets and broader Russian market taking it on the chin this morning.
h/t @RolandOliphant
President Poroshenko used a speech yesterday marking Ukraine's declaration of sovereignty 24 years ago to assure the country that while "today our country is enduring an ordeal, but I firmly believe the Ukrainian people respond with decency to all challenges. We will win. A sovereign and united Ukraine will become a modern European state -- wealthy and powerful," according to the National Security and Defense Council's Information-Analytical Center's website.
Paul Goble quotes extensively from a piece by Russian scholar Vladimir Pasthukov in polit.ru describing Putin as the "'Last Soldier' Of A Dying Empire."
Via Reuters:
International payment systems Visa and MasterCard said the new U.S. sanctions did not affect their operations in Russia.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev dismisses the latest sanctions as ineffectual in resolving the situation in Ukraine. Such moves are "evil" and have never cowed any country, he adds. Such punitive measures will amplify anti-U.S. sentiments, he claims, citing the experience of "the 1980s."