Russia to Aid Penalized Banks If Needed as MH17 Probe Stalls

Russia’s central bank said it’s ready to help lenders targeted by the U.S. and Europe in their latest round of sanctions, as Dutch experts again abandoned an attempt to visit the crash site of Malaysian Air Flight 17.

European Union governments agreed yesterday on their most sweeping sanctions against Russia to date, barring state-owned banks from selling shares or bonds in Europe, restricting the export of equipment to modernize the oil industry and barring the sale of technology with military uses. The sanctions are an attempt to get President Vladimir Putin to back down in Ukraine.