The United States, United Kingdom, and European Union have all announced a new round of sanctions against Russia, a day prior to the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war that broke out on February 24th, 2022.
“So many sanctions. Once again, the United States, United Kingdom and European Union are hitting Russia with a new wave of sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
With Friday’s latest round of sanctions — landing one day before the second anniversary of the war — the U.S. has targeted more than 4,000 officials, oligarchs, firms, banks and others. The EU has targeted more than 2,000 people and entities, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates.
The latest sanctions focus on people and firms connected to Russia’s weapons manufacturing, finance and import sectors. They also target three officials that Western leaders say were involved in the death of Navalny and others they hold responsible for kidnapping and reeducating Ukrainian children.
Many of the new sanctions target Russian firms that contribute to the Kremlin’s war effort — everything from drone and industrial chemical manufacturers to machine tool importers. The EU is also targeting foreign firms that officials say have exported dual-use goods to Russia that could be used in the war.
Eswar Prasad, a Cornell economist, says the latest sanctions are ‘likely to be of limited potency in stifling Russia’s economy or its war effort’. He said the ‘escape valve’ provided by China, Russia’s ability to maneuver around many of the sanctions and the impasse in Congress over new military aid for Ukraine ‘have substantially eroded the symbolic and substantive power of such sanctions’.
The West still has other options to consider in further punishing Russia.
The U.S. and Europe are considering the use of $300 billion of Russia’s frozen central bank assets to fund Ukraine as reparations for the war, but that’s a legally complex matter. The U.S. could also designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, an idea that has gained bipartisan popularity in the U.S. Congress”. -Associated Press
Ahead of the two-year anniversary of the Ukrainian conflict, given that the Western sanctions come at a time when Russia has secured the upper hand on the battlefield with its latest victory in capturing Ukraine’s eastern town of Avdiivka, it has become increasingly apparent that the goal of the U.S., UK, and EU all along has been to completely deplete Ukraine before directly engaging Russia in war.