Having confirmed new counter-sanctions this morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin just threw The IMF (US taxpayers), and Ukraine's 'American' finance minister under the bus...

"Moscow can no longer give Ukraine gas discounts due to the current drop in oil prices."

The price must be on level of other countries like Poland, he added.

While Christine Lagarde has made it clear she will spend Other People's Money in Ukraine (but not Greece) no matter whether Ukraine defaults or not, one suspects the end of the gas discount will crush IMF expectations for Ukraine growth and make it increasingly impossible for her to justify throwing worse money after bad...

Does Ukraine have any gold left with which to grease the skids?

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As we asked previously, is this the start of Russia's move to cut Ukraine out of the loop?