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Putin Laughs at Sanctions — The Strengths and Weaknesses of Western Sanctions
I used to think differently about the sanctions the West imposed on Russia. In light of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I actually believed that they could drown Putin of his resources to fund the war. I was wrong.
Putin doesn’t care about the sanctions against him or the people of Russia. Putin cares about his Empire and legacy. And he will do everything he can to create a legacy that would establish him — in his eyes — as a great ruler of Russia.
That said, it’s worth covering what the sanctions did in the early stages of the war and why we should have seen that Putin would still be undisturbed.
In 2014, the United States and European Union imposed embarrassingly light economic sanctions on Russia in response to the annexation of Crimea and the subsequent backing of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Sanctions targeted Russian oligarchs, their companies, and various sectors of the economy.
Some of these include:
- Economic sanctions: This resulted in a decline in foreign investment, reduced economic growth, and a devaluation of the Russian ruble.
- Energy sanctions: This slowed the development of new energy projects and investments or…
