They’re the sanctions that aren’t – and they’re creating chaos.

When Western governments hit Russia with a range of measures designed to punish Vladimir Putin for Ukraine, they deliberately stayed away from bans on the commodities where Russia is vital part of global supply, such as oil (somewhere between 8 per cent and 10 per cent of global supply), natural gas (about 30 per cent), wheat (about 27 per cent including Ukraine), palladium (about 20 per cent), corn (about 15 per cent including Ukraine), platinum (about 12 per cent) and aluminium (about 8 per cent).