[lowkey]

Not from the article, but I read elsewhere that the sanctions also have a carve-out exclusion for Italian luxury goods - certainly not a NEED

Also, in the case of the United States, Canada and Germany our energy dependency on Russian oil is entirely self-inflicted. There were other options but the short-term optics of environmental concerns superceded the desire for energy independence - now we are seeing the implications of those decisions.

[throwaway_4ever]

The Roman Empire went from being the birth of modern western civilization, to a people crucially dependent on selling unnecessary handbags to Russian war tyrants.