The mood turns nasty

Small entrepreneurs, he said ... bankers, people from the oil and gas business and government officials: "With the bribes they take, they can live in real style! " In theory, these are the kinds of people who would have much to lose if western sanctions against Russia were to shake the economy hard. Take the US "Magnitsky law", which imposed visa bans and asset freezes on officials said to be involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, the whistleblowing lawyer who uncovered large-scale fraud (committed by the same officials who then had him arrested and jailed).