Commentary As expected, the European Union (EU), like Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, has imposed draconian sanctions on the Russian Federation to punish it for invading Ukraine. The sanctions, which cover the fields of finance, energy, transport, technology, and visa policy which targets Russian oligarchs, but not ordinary Russian citizens will have the effect of freezing Russian financial assets throughout the territory of the EU. While Russia’s access to Europe’s financial markets will be denied as part of what EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, described as “the strongest, the harshest package ever considered.” The financial sanctions even include the exclusion of selected Russian banks from access to SWIFT, the global interbank payment system; this will undoubtedly have significant consequences for the trading ability of Russia. The European Council also closed the European airspace to Russian planes. It has even been suggested that European Membership candidacy should be …