Sanctions limit supply of goods but that’s not the real way they bite. They slow down the economy a bit. Worse alternatives are used. Domestic sales are lower. That slowdown accumulates as lost growth. Brie and Mercedes’s aren’t the point in and of themselves.

And for specialized items such as aircraft parts and chips, it forces them to do without or invent an equivalent local supply chain at enormous cost.

All that wasted money is diverted from making Russia stronger.

Russia is such a poor country compared to its neighbours that it’s very easy for them to have a lot of catch-up growth.