JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia sanctions: Myths and lessons” – The Hill/ Nigel Gould-Davies

Portion of U.S. Treasury Department Building Facade, North Side, with Sculpture of Alexander Hamilton

“… First, sanctions now directly target economic elites and major private assets, not only state officials and companies. Second, the United States is deploying some of the most potent weapons in its sanctions arsenal … hitherto used against terrorist groups, transnational crime and ‘rogue states.’ Third, sanctions have become an accepted, not exceptional, instrument for dealing with Russia. … 1. … Russian authorities are worried … 2. Russian elites are worried … 3. The Russian population is worried … 4. Sanctions are not pushing oligarchs into Putin’s arms … 5. Sanctions are not pushing Russia into China’s arms … [S]anctions are working … raising the price the Russian government must pay for its behavior and imposing a strain on the country’s dysfunctional political economy. Business elites face rising pressures … a mood of deep pessimism is spreading across the … population. These effects will grow … new measures are likely to be added. Sanctions … shape attitudes, interests and choices … [and] will one day drive change in Russia.”

Click here for: “Russia sanctions: Myths and lessons” – The Hill/ Nigel Gould-Davies

 

 

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