[nicwolff]

Russia isn't a plutocracy – the rich don't run the country. It's an oligarchy: the money and power are Putin's and those to whom he distributes them answer to him. Sanctions are easy but ineffective; seizure of real estate in London and New York, and yachts in ports all over the world, and numbered accounts in shadow banks – all held by many layers of shell companies, traceable to oligarchs but all really Putin's – is much harder. But that's what's needed.