In German, “Bluff” means to mislead by a display of strength or self-confidence when in fact their is no strength or self-confidence there. To display, I mean.
But there’s one problem with this weapon (real sanctions): It can only be used if all EU members agree. In the EU, sanctions need to be decided unanimously. This worked for levels one and two, because they were primarily symbolic acts that affected people close to Putin and imposed no real burden on the EU. But level three would be different, making it unlikely that the EU would agree on sanctions that would have a strong effect on Russia. Europe’s strongest weapon is actually a bluff.
“Clearly there will be economic sanctions if Putin sabotages the vote, but it’s unclear what would constitute sabotage.”
PS: Personally, I think there is only one person on Earth who could possibly stand up to this Putin person. And he’s not even a person himself

