As the situation between Ukraine and Russia continues to unfold, Europe and the U.S. are mulling what effect economic sanctions may have — not only on Russia, but on their own vulnerable economies. This economic interdependence is particularly apparent with respect to energy, and can be visualized by the The Observatory of Economic Complexity, from the MIT Media Lab Macro Connections group, which charts the flow of imports and exports around the world. Here, for instance, are the nations Russia exports to (the data displayed below is from 2011, but the charts are interactive — so play around with them to explore more data):

A significant share of Russian exports end up in Europe, and a large share of Russian imports come from Europe. But while Europe is hence clearly very important to Russia, the flip side is that Russia is much a smaller player from Europe’s point of view. For instance, only 3.2% of German exports end up in Russia, and only 4% of German imports hail from there. The figures for the U.K. and France, Europe’s other two largest economies, are even smaller, under 2% in some cases. It would be tempting to conclude that Russia, then, has more to lose from economic isolation.

But of course, it’s not that straightforward. Complicating matters (as always seems to be the case in international disputes) is energy; Russia supplies 30% of Europe’s natural gas and is the world’s largest exporter of it, as visualized below:

Then there’s Ukraine. Just as it’s geographically sandwiched between East and West, it’s economically caught in the middle too. This balancing act is easily seen in this visualization of where Ukraine imports from:

Ukraine’s complex relationship with its neighbors goes far beyond trade, of course — the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovych, which in turn sparked the Crimea crisis, was more about his flagrant corruption than any immediate desire of Ukrainians to join the EU. And as the world’s policeman/banker, the United States is now getting involved as well (Russia is canceling Ukraine’s discount on its natural gas, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has pledged economic assistance to offset the resulting increase in energy costs).

But in a sense, Ukraine’s economic tug-of-war mirrors the political and cultural balancing act it faces in deciding how to align itself between Russia and Europe. As an economic matter, it cannot give up access to one without needing much more from the other. And with $16 billion in debt due by the end of 2015, the country needs all the revenues it can get.