The Moscow Stock Exchange slowly recovered on Friday after experiencing the worst day in its history on Thursday.

Apparently, investors had expected even worse than the latest sanctions packages from the western allies, which did not contain two of the toughest possible measures: an embargo on oil and gas exports and exclusion from the international banking system SWIFT.

According to experts, the complete separation of Russian banks from Western financial markets could even have more consequences than a SWIFT exclusion, since this would ban almost all global transactions.

Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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Catherine Wagner

Business correspondent for Russia and the CIS based in Moscow.

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Niklas Zaboji

Economic correspondent in Paris

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Reports have been circulating in the Russian media since Thursday evening that ATMs in Moscow only dispense small amounts or no dollars at all.

Of the major state banks, however, like Britain before it, Washington completely blocked only VTB Bank, which accounts for 16.4 percent of the assets of all Russian banks.

By far the most important bank, Sber, through which state salaries and pensions are paid in Russia and which accounts for about a third of all assets, is being subjected to milder measures by Washington than VTB.

So their assets in the US will not be frozen.

From March, however, US financial institutions will be banned from holding or opening accounts for Sbers.

Transactions involving Sber are no longer allowed to be conducted, with exceptions for deals related to oil, oil products, gas, coal and uranium - they are also possible with sanctioned banks until the end of June.

Washington also severely restricted Russian companies' opportunities for financing in the West: a number of companies, including the state-controlled gas company Gazprom, which was previously only affected by export bans on oil production technology, will in future only be allowed to issue bonds with a term of 14 days sell American investors.

That should hit the gas company: Gazprom currently has 25 bonds in circulation in dollars, euros and Swiss francs with a total value of 30 billion dollars.

Lots of loopholes

The EU sanctions are designed in such a way that the export of European products remains unaffected in many areas.

This applies on a small scale to Italian luxury goods from Gucci or Prada or diamonds from Antwerp, which may continue to be exported.

In the run-up to the special EU summit on Thursday, Italy and Belgium had spoken out strictly against the inclusion of such products in the sanctions list.

But it also applies on a large scale to restrictions that would affect the entire trade.

The EU has refrained from sanctioning the big banks VTB and Sber, but has added Alfa Bank and Otkritie to the list of institutions cut off from the financial markets.

It was said in Brussels that the Americans would be able to cope more easily with the cuts in trade relations.

Their export to Russia amounts to just one tenth of the European export of 80 billion euros.

This does not mean that trade between the EU and Russia will not be noticeably affected by the sanctions.

"The effects of the sanctions will also affect the European economy," said Deputy Commission President Valdis Dombrovskis.

"But that will be the price we will have to pay."