Illustration of Economic Interdependence

RT and Der Spiegel have recently published a few infographics on trade between the EU and Russia, respectively Germany and Russia, which we reproduce below. This shows why tit-for-tat sanctions could be a really big problem for Europe and why the EU's leaders are probably quietly praying for the crisis to simply go away. The associated article in Der Spiegel on the high price German business may end up paying is worth looking at in this context.  As an aside, we recently chided Stratfor a bit, but this article on Putin's motives and options is actually well worth reading as well (apart from the once again personified countries). Similarly, there are a few well-considered comments on the situation in this article at Bloomberg, which attempts to decipher Putin's motives by bringing them into a historical context. We don't necessarily agree with everything that is said in these articles, but they are different from the usual fare and all make for interesting reading. On to the trade infographics:

Trade between the EU and Russia, via RT

Trade between Russia and Germany (via Der Spiegel) – Russia is Germany's 11^th largest trading partner – click to enlarge.

A list of German companies with big exposure to Russia (also via Der Spiegel) - click to enlarge.

And lastly, here is a chart of Russia's population – and no, the recent bump higher does not reflect the pending annexation of the Crimea.

Russia has a demographics problem, but recently it has improved slightly – click to enlarge.

Graphics by: RT, Der Spiegel, Wikipedia