Member-only story
Sanctions Didn’t Stop Putin
On Their Effectiveness in the Short-term & Long-term
In some sense, sanctions are working. But they are not enough. Indeed, with the rise in the price of gas and oil, Putin has even profited from his invasion.
Based on a Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) study, the EU has daily transferred $730 million to Putin’s war machine, which is roughly four times more than Russia’s daily military spending. But in the long term (2 to 4 years), the EU sanctions will be catastrophic for Putin.
Let me explain why.
A Brief History of 2022 Sanctions Against Russia
The five sanctions packages that were passed by the EU in the first two months of Putin’s large-scale invasion, were commendable efforts against Putin. They were agreed upon quickly and enforced with the same fervor.
Russia even surpassed Iran and North Korea, which were the most heavily sanctioned country in the Globe for some time. And the nature of the sanctions was also interesting since most of them were aimed at Russia’s elite class, who are effectively enablers of Putin’s kleptocracy (thus also benefiting from it).
It is within their interest to keep the regime going, so it makes complete sense…
