Sanctions only boost the Russian leader’s popularity at home. There is little the west can do apart from talk
Although it was ignored, Putin’s call for pro-Russia rebels to delay their referendum in east Ukraine is a promising development. It is a sign that the Kremlin may be willing to halt the slide into civil war and bring the warring parties back to the "national dialogue" on Ukraine’s constitutional future envisaged by the Geneva agreement.
But the west is kidding itself if it thinks this is the result of the sanctions it imposed last week. Putin’s move is more probably part of a broader game. He is subverting the Kiev government and threatening invasion to push through his preferred option: the federalisation of Ukraine on Russian terms.