Behind the loud headlines that "Putin broke the European Union" lies a far more modest, but more interesting truth: the EU is dropping its plan to lower the price cap on Russian oil from 60 to 45 dollars a barrel. The price stays where it was - and that's a hint that the calculation is no longer just geopolitical, but budgetary.

The reason isn't in Moscow, but in the Middle East. The new crisis around Iran changed the calculus: if the market tightens further, any stricter cap on Russian oil would hit not just Russia, but European consumers, industry and state budgets too. In other words - sanctions hurt the one who imposes them too.

That doesn't mean the EU is retreating entirely. The Union plans to expand measures on other fronts: around 20 new ships from Russia's "shadow fleet" on the sanctions list, measures against banks, oil traders, refineries and crypto services, and tighter export controls toward China, India, Turkey and Central Asia.

The lesson is as old as sanctions themselves: easy to announce, hard to endure. When the price of a principle is measured in the price of fuel at the pump, political resolve suddenly becomes more flexible. The Balkans watch this up close - because when Europe coughs over energy, our electricity bill shakes.

The question worth asking isn't whether the EU is "defeated," but something soberer: how long can a policy of pressure survive when every tightening comes back like a boomerang against your own standard of living? The answer, it seems, we've just received - up to 60 dollars, and not a cent stricter.