HThe Russian defense minister expressed shock and outrage that the US would reassure NATO allies in the face of naked aggression. He can go pound sand, for all it is worth. Of course it is all a dog and pony show: the Russians put up a faux act of them being disturbed and upset and not understanding why the US would train with their NATO allies when the Russian leadership knows exactly why that is.
The new sanctions have been expanded to include more of Putin's cronies. How much will the sanctions affect them is again questionable as they have had weeks to pull their western assests. Even so, the sanctions target individuals who were making millions off the deals their companies were making. Perhaps the next step should've or be targeting these oil firms to make them really hurt.
I was also thinking the momentum, an unquantifiable term, has shifted from the Russians. Two months ago,the Russians caught most everyone off guard by the swiftness of their invasion and illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. By the time stopgap measures were in place, Putin was past that point and doing something else. He was keeping the West completely off balance. The military maneuvers, sanctions, and diplomatic pressure appear to have an effect as Russia has continuously claimed it will jot invade the Ukraine, at least as openly as it did in March. It won't completely prevent them from still sending in their military in small groups, disguised as the local population, but, in the meantime, all the negative press may have prevented a full scale invasion.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-27193628
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27204009
