The UK and the EU have agreed to hit Russia with a raft of new economic sanctions after hopes of a ceasefire with Ukraine came to nothing. One French minister commented that it is time to “suffocate” the Russian economy.

Since the country’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, that economy has certainly suffered. Sanctions on Russia have already led to a depreciation of the rouble, high inflation, very high interest rates and a stagnating economy.

But it remains unclear what effect any new measures will have. And Vladimir Putin has a history of riding out economic hardship.

When he became president of Russia just over 25 years ago, the country’s economy was in dire straits. Attempts by his predecessors Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to build a more open and capitalist system had not worked well for most Russian citizens.

Instead, a rapid wave of privatisations, which reformers hoped would build strong institutions, had mostly benefited a small group of oligarchs who exploited a weak and corrupt state to seize key oil, gas and mineral assets.

Those oligarchs resisted legal reform, moved wealth........

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