Bringing a peashooter to a gunfight was how one analyst described the UK’s response to Russia’s renewed aggression towards Ukraine. After President Vladimir Putin ordered “peacekeeping” forces into breakaway Ukrainian regions, the US targeted some of Russia’s largest financial institutions and the EU unveiled measures against 351 members of the Russian parliament, as well as Putin’s defence minister and chief of staff. The UK, meanwhile, announced sanctions on five smallish lenders and three Putin cronies already on the US sanctions list. The underwhelming move has done little to improve the UK’s notoriety for being a hub where money and reputations of oligarchs close to the Kremlin can be laundered. More worryingly, such a paltry salvo risks emboldening Putin’s strategy of coercive diplomacy as Europe grapples with its worst security crisis in a generation.
拿着豌豆射手参加枪战——一位分析师这样描述英国对俄罗斯再次侵略乌克兰的反应。俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)下令“维和”部队进入乌克兰分裂地区后，美国制裁了俄罗斯国内最大的几家金融机构，欧盟(EU)公布了针对351名俄罗斯议会议员、以及普京的国防部长和幕僚长的措施。与此同时，英国宣布对5家俄罗斯中小银行和3名普京亲信实施制裁，这三人早在美国制裁名单上。这种不够有力的措施无助于改善英国的坏名声——这里是与克里姆林宫关系密切的寡头洗白金钱与名誉的中心。更令人担忧的是，在欧洲努力应对一代人以来最严重的安全危机之际，这种不痛不痒的操作可能会助长普京的胁迫外交策略。