Europe has a Russia problem, as Herman van Rompuy, the president of the European council, recognised on Friday by sending out the latest draft of the proposed sanctions. Nick Clegg is right that Russia should lose the 2018 World Cup, but that is Fifas call. In those areas where it has clout, the EU is going to be tougher than most predict. The shooting down of MH17 has dramatised Russias role, and made it harder for European leaders to duck the consequences.
Astonishingly, the MH17 incident does not appear to have even interrupted Russian arms supplies to the Ukrainian rebels. Petro Poroshenko, Ukraines new president, believes Russia is continuing to supply weaponry and according to western intelligence sources, he is right. Whether Putin wants to annex the Donbas Luhansk and Donetsk as well as Crimea is moot. Some argue that he sees Russian interests as equally well served by a fractured and weak Ukraine. Whatever the objective, the means are clear and hard to misinterpret.
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