Europe will reconcile with Russia, and soon. It can’t afford not to

After months of escalating tensions over Ukraine and talk of a new cold war, Russia and the West could soon reach a surprising rapprochement. The eurozone economy is suffering badly and sanctions against Russia are partly to blame. Winter is also upon us, and that reminds every-one Vladimir Putin still holds the cards when it comes to supplying gas.

The clincher, though, is that Ukraine is heading towards financial meltdown. Unless an extremely large bailout is delivered soon, there will be a default, sending shockwaves through the global economy. That’s a risk nobody wants to take — least of all Washington, London or Berlin.

Sanctions against Russia were always going to hit western Europe hard. The eurozone did 12 times as much trade with Russia as the United States did last year — that’s one reason Washington’s attitude towards corralling Russia’s economy has been somewhat more gung-ho.

Most big European economies, particularly Germany, only explicitly backed western sanctions after flight MH17 was shot down over Ukrainian airspace in July, killing 298.