As a result of the crisis, the two leading indexes of the Moscow Exchange fell in

trading on March 3: the MICEX 10 declined 10.79 percent, equating to a loss

in market capitalization of nearly $60 billion, and the RTS Index declined 12.01
percent to its lowest level since September 2009.
[219]
The next day, though, the
MICEX rose 5.25%, recovering part of the losses. In response to this and the
decline of the ruble, the Central Bank of Russia raised its interest rate from 5.5 to
7.0% and spent up to US$12 billion in reserves to bolster the currency.
[220]
The
possibility for international sanctions against Russia has also been raised.
[221]

There were worries that Russian gas exports to Europe and Ukraine may become
disrupted by the conflict. Thirty percent of Europe's gas is imported from Russia,
half of which flows through Ukrainian pipelines. On March 1, the Russian
Energy Ministry decided to halt the subsidies of Russian gas to Ukraine.
[222]
The
crisis could also affect worldwide grain supplies. Prices will likely rise because
Ukraine is one of the world's largest exporters of corn.
[221]
The crisis resulted into
the exit of several multinational companies from Crimea due to suspension of
necessary financial and banking services.
[223]
The European Union also banned
import of all goods from Crimea into its members states.
[224]

Expanded Western sanctions in mid-March coursed through financial markets,
hitting the business interests of some Russia's richest people.
[357]
The Americans'
centered on the heart of Moscow's leadership,
[358]
though the EU's initial list
shied from targeting Putin's inner circle.
[359]
As ratings
agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor's downgraded Russia's credit
outlook,
[360]
Russian banks warned of a sanctions-induced recession,
[361]
the
country braced for capital outflows for the first three months of 2014 to reach
$70 billion,
[362]
more than the entirety of outflows for 2013,
[363]
and Russian
government-bond issues plummeted by three-quarters compared with the same
period the previous year.
[364]
Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas producer, saw
$2.5bn in market value wiped out when its shares sank by nearly 10%, rendering
Putin's close friend Gennady Timchenko, who has a 23% stake in the company,
$575m poorer.
[357]
"I do hope that there is some serious diplomatic activity going
on behind the scenes," said one Russian banker,
[365]
though others were more
sanguine on the question of whether the sanctions would have any enduring
effect,
[360][366][367]
and Russians, top and bottom, seemed defiant.
[368]
The official
Russian response was mixed.
[369]

Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Alexey
Ulyukaev said what introduction of sectoral sanctions will lead to a serious
decline of the Russian economy: economic growth of Russia will became
seriously negative, the growth of volumes of investment will be even more
negative, inflation will be on the rise, and government revenues and reserves will
go down.
[370]

As well as differences between the United States and Europe as a whole as to
how to respond to the Russian-backed incursion, those same differences have
played out among Eastern European countries.
[371]