How the West Undermines Its Own Sanctions
The Western sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been far broader than many experts anticipated. But there’s a catch.
As Russian troops bulldoze and bludgeon Ukraine, the West has begun implementing one of the few tools in its arsenal: sanctions. The United States blacklisted multiple Russian oligarchs and banks, and the United Kingdom followed suit by blocking Russian banks and barring Russian companies from raising money on British markets. The European Union issued what its foreign-policy chief, Josep Borrell, dubbed the “harshest package of sanctions” in the bloc’s history, targeting energy, trade, and a group of Russian oligarchs long thought untouchable.
The Western response has been than most experts , and threatens to throw the Russian economy into chaos. Yet there’s a catch. Absent significant domestic reforms
