The threat of economic sanctions that the US is planning to impose on Russia (while the EU is wimping out, as usual) is really bothering Putin. He is making statements to the effect that he has no idea what the armored vehicles belonging to the Russian armed forces are doing in the Crimea and where the soldiers occupying the ever-growing territory in the region come from. As we say in Russian, this is a discourse of, “This ain’t me, and this cow isn’t mine either.”
At the same time, the Russian government is working on a bill authorizing the expropriation of American and European property, bank accounts and companies located in Russia. According to the bill, any loans made by US banks to Russian businesses will be unilaterally cancelled by Russia.
This will definitely do miracles for the Russian economy, especially given that what the country eats, wears and uses to maintain every aspect of daily living is imported.
The way Russian economy works is that those who manage to get some of the money acquired through the selling of Russian oil and gas can afford to buy the same clothes, shoes, phones, computers, TVs, cars, etcetera that we buy in the US or UK, but for twice or three times the price. And the rest of the population sits there, dreaming of buying those things. In the meanwhile, nothing is being done to create a more self-reliant economy. (The Ukrainian economy is the same minus oil and gas).
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