'All of which suggests that, in order for Washington and Western capitals to dial up the pressure on Moscow still further, they'll need to force Western firms to sever their connections to the Russian market..''..another significant reason for this continued solvency has to do with Russia's commercial ties with the West. That's because, despite extensive international sanctions and widespread commitments from politicians and corporate leaders, only a tiny percentage of Western firms have actually ceased doing business in the Russian Federation.
A new study carried out jointly by researchers from the IMD Institute, a Swiss management school, and the University of St. Gallen
has found that, in spite of the prevailing narrative that the West is pulling back from commerce with Russia, there has in fact only been "a very limited retreat of EU and G7 firms" since the start of the war in late February of last year.
..
The resulting picture is bleak.
"In principle," Evenett and Pisani note, the small number of Western firms that have left "could constitute the lion's share of Western investment in Russia." This, however, is not the case. Rather, they account for just 6.5 percent "of total profit before tax of all the EU and G7 firms with active commercial operations in Russia" tracked. In other words, Western commercial ties with Russia remain largely unchanged.
..
All of which suggests that, in order for Washington and Western capitals to dial up the pressure on Moscow still further, they'll need to force Western firms to sever their connections to the Russian market. Otherwise, they will continue to sustain Russia's economy — and, by extension, the Kremlin's war of aggression.'
- Ilan Berman,
Western Business Is Still Sustaining Russia's War, January 30, 2023
Context(Putin's War) - 'What are Ukraine's borders? .. they’re internationally recognized and defined in 1991.' - Navalny(The risk of escalation is overblown) - '..the West’s overarching goal must be ensuring that the Russian tyrant gains nothing by his aggression..'