( CNN ) -- With a breezy sweep of his pen President Vladimir Putin wrote a new chapter into Crimea 's turbulent history , committing the region to a future returned to Russian domain . Sixty years prior , Ukraine 's breakaway peninsula was signed away just as swiftly by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev . But dealing with such a blatant land grab on its eastern flank wo n't be anywhere near as quick and easy for Europe 's 28-member union . Because , unlike Crimea 's rushed referendum , everyone has a say . After initially slapping visa restrictions and asset freezes on a limited number of little known politicians and military men , Europe is facing urgent calls to widen the scope of its measures to target the Russian business community in particular . The logic of this is that those who run Russia and own it are essentially two sides of the coin . Alexei Navalny , one-time Moscow mayoral contender now under house arrest for opposing the current regime , called for Europe 's leaders to ban everyone -- from Vladimir Putin 's personal banker to Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich from keeping their money and loved ones abroad . Asset freezes and visa restrictions are especially palatable options for the EU because they can be rolled out on a discretionary basis , without requiring cumbersome legal procedures and recourse . In fact Russia cancels visas for people it does n't like all the time . Just look at Hermitage Capital founder Bill Browder who lost both his right of entry and Moscow-based money in 2005 and dare not go back . Russia also banned the adoption of its orphans by Americans in retaliation for the US 's implementation of an anti-corruption law named after Sergei Magnitsky , Browder 's lawyer who died after a year in a Moscow detention center , apparently beaten to death . Yet in playing the 'money talks ' card , Europe must be ready for the consequences of such action . Because money also walks . As such EU leaders must be ready to accept sanctions are a two-way street and will hurt both sides . Targeting Russia 's peripatetic business community would be one way of sapping their tenuous support for President Putin . And such a strategy might also turn out to have a silver lining : awarding EU countries a chance to finally deal with some of the more unpleasant sides of their patronage , including money laundering and corruption , which have inflated prize assets like London property and Picasso paintings for years . Where Europe should hold fire though is trade . Two decades of post-Soviet rapprochement and almost $ 500 billion worth of commerce is a lot to put at stake . It 's true that any trade war would hurt Russia far harder than it would the EU - not least because 15 % of the former 's GDP comes from exports to the bloc . But Europe - with its hefty reliance on Russian gas - would have a hard time keeping its factories going and citizens warm without power from the east . And while Putin flexes his political muscle , open trade channels keep the dialogue going giving all sides a chance to change the subject and talk less tensely . No one can afford to cut off that lifeline , especially now with Europe 's economy on the rebound and Russia 's one on the wane .
Nina dos Santos says Europe must be ready to accept sanctions will hurt both sides . Targeting Russia 's business community would be one way of sapping their support for President Putin , she says . But she says Europe would have a hard time keeping its factories going without power from the east .