TODAY: U.S. and E.U. broaden sanctions hitting banks and energy companies; Obama denies new Cold War; Moscow vows retaliation; Russia may abandon ‘unfair’ U.S. nuclear treaty; Yukos former VP satisfied with ruling; Russians blame West over Ukraine; new giant holes discovered.

New sanctions announced yesterday will see Europe clamping down on Russia’s state-owned banks and oil firms in ‘the toughest sanctions since the Cold War’, anticipated to cost Russia billions of euros. President Barack Obama denied the onset of a new Cold War, but the U.S. was quick to follow followed Europe with its own set of sanctions, vowing to make the country’s ‘weak economy even weaker’, and adding VTB, the Bank of Moscow, and the Russian Agriculture Bank to its blacklist.  The sanctions against the banks will be key, says The Independent, as they will block them from selling securities to the world.  In general, the new sanctions effectively cut Russia off from international capital markets capable of providing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of debt. ‘It’s highly unlikely Russia would be able to replace borrowing and equity issuance in global capital markets with other sources of funds.’  Moscow has hinted that it will retaliate economically by targeting Western companies that do business in Russia.  In the mean time, so much for BP’s bright Russian future…  Japan’s plans to impose its own sanctions are ‘unfriendly’, says the Foreign Ministry.