Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula brought with it threats of U.S. sanctions, but Europe, while condemning President Vladimir Putin's actions, has been more circumspect. Part of the reason: Europe's dependence on Russian money and energy.
"It is a matter of simple economics," Alex Melikishvili, senior Europe/CIS Analyst at IHS Country Risk, said in an email.
He noted that the EU is Russia's main trade partner; bilateral trade is in hundreds of billion of dollars annually, in contrast with much lower U.S.-Russia trade (see chart).
"As a result, forging a coordinated response without harming vital economic interests of EU states who are also, to a large extent, dependent on Russian gas supplies ... is a complicated and time-consuming effort," he said.
Here's the potential impact that sanctions could have on different European countries and Russia: