Angela Merkel wasn't in a hurry to inflict economic pain on Moscow. Cautious, pragmatic, and mindful of her country's business ties to Russia, the German chancellor doggedly tried to defuse the Ukraine crisis through back-channel diplomacy and frequent phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those efforts failed-and now Merkel looks ready to embrace the hit-'em-where-it-hurts sanctions that some U.S. politicians have been pushing for. In mid-April, Germany stopped granting licenses for arms exports to Russia and put on hold a plan for Airbus Group to sell $973 million worth of satellite technology to Moscow. Europe "shouldn't be filled with fear" that sanctions could provoke retaliation, Merkel said in Berlin on April 5.
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