KIEV, Ukraine — Russia and Russian state companies have increased the economic pressure on the new pro-Western government in Kiev over the past week, closing the border to most trucks, shutting a Ukrainian factory in Russia and yet again raising the price of natural gas . The actions revive an array of Russian economic foreign policy tools used for years and made possible by Russia’s robust domestic consumer market and the country’s energy exports. About a quarter of all Ukraine ’s exports go to Russia, and factories here have benefited from a growing demand in the defense sector and rising consumer purchasing power. Russia’s manipulation of gas prices under various pretexts has for a decade proved to be a particular headache for pro-Western Ukrainian governments. Russia is now asking close to $500 for 1,000 cubic meters of gas, the standard unit for gas trade in Europe, which is a […]