The Annexation of Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the annexation of Crimea. Well the West has voiced its objections to what's happening in Crimea. A land-grab was how US vice president Joe Biden described it. But amid the euphoria in Crimea and even in Moscow, there are some people with serious misgivings about the course upon which Russia has embarked. Particularly the economic damage that political friction with the West is bound to cause. Leonid Gozman is the former co-chairman of Russia's Right Cause party and he's one of those people. Rhetoric aside, the West's response to the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea has been limited to specific targetted sanctions against a handful of Russian and Crimean officials. The Kremlin has dismissed them. It's also threatened retaliation. So what is their effect likely to be? Oleg Buklemishev is an economist at Moscow University. Well someone who once invested an awful lot in Russia, is the American businessman, Bill Browder. That was before he fell foul of the Russian government. He's now a fierce critic of Vladmir Putin and his supporters in the Kremlin. He says the sanctions announced by the EU and America don't go far enough or high enough. With Vladimir Putin adding Crimea to the map of Russia what about those businesses actually operating in the peninsula? On yesterday's World Business Report we heard about the problems faced by a vodka company in Simferapol. But Crimea is at least as noted for its gas reserves as its vodka. In recent years it's seen a gas rush...But the companies who raced to exploit its energy reserves are now finding themselves in limbo. We hear from the boss of Italy's energy giant ENI, Paolo Scaroni.