Last week, loans bankers were on tenterhooks until Thursday, nervously waiting to see whether the European Union’s sanctions against Russia would match, in print, its earlier tough talk – and specifically if they would be formally barred from lending to Russian borrowers.
Illustrative of the ways of the modern world, The Council of the EU said it had “no precise idea” when it would publish the official journal containing the legal acts, but it would let people know from its Twitter accounts @susanne_council and @eucouncilpress.
When it came, late in the day, the grim but jovially delivered harbinger, was soon retweeted by a few early birds, although there was sadly no comeback from @PutinRF_Eng. Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin (@DRogozin) was busy tweeting a picture of Vladimir Putin holding a leopard offset by a picture of Barack Obama holding a poodle. “We have different values and allies,” said his accompanying update.
Loans may have escaped the text of sanctions for now, but with markets all but closed in any case that’s probably little to tweet about…