Silly, uneducated pundits keep chirping that sanctions will antagonize and humiliate Russians. This betrays a complete lack of understanding of Russia. In every survey, about 95% of respondents in Russia say they are happy about the sanctions imposed by the US on criminals like Timchenko, the Rotenbergs, Yakunin, and others.
The tragedy of the Russian people is that they can’t give up on the fantasy of “a good tsar.” The Good Tsar myth is one of the most pernicious fictions to haunt Russian history. For centuries, Russians keep convincing themselves that the Supreme Leader (be it a tsar, Lenin, Stalin or Putin) is not aware of everything that is malfunctioning in the country. The well-meaning Supreme Leader is prevented from finding out about the suffering of his people by evil courtiers. Misery, corruption, hunger – nothing will convince the Russian people that their Supreme Leader is not a wide-eyed innocent, kept ignorant of reality by an evil conspiracy of dirty aides.
This myth goes back to Ivan the Terrible and works to Putin’s benefit today. Everybody in Russia hates the bandits and wants them to suffer. All that is missing for a real change to start taking place in the country is for people to see that Timchenko and Yakunin are directly and intimately linked to Putin.
Any measures that make it at least a tiny bit more difficult for the bandits to keep robbing the people of Russia will be welcomed by the Russians.
Clarissa's Blog 
“Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please,” said Brer Putin. “Only please, Uncle Sam, please don’t throw me into the briar patch.”
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It’s a win/win/win! Putin gets the oligarchs under his thumb, ordinary Russians get to see the screws twisted on the oligarchs, and the American people get to feel warm, fuzzy pride that we *did something!*
I guess it’s a win/win/win/lose if you include Eastern Europeans, but it should be obvious to everyone by now that they haven’t counted since at least the Venetian sacking of Constantinople.
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