JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s economy is still marching along. Here’s how to slow it down.” – Washington Post
“The air is seeping out of Russia’s sanctions-beleaguered economy, but not fast enough to impede … Putin’s calamitous war in Ukraine or to inconvenience most Russians. … Washington and its allies retain potent ways to undercut the Kremlin’s war-making capacity over time — if [sanctions] are honed and intensified[,] [accompanied by] [b]etter coordination and tighter enforcement … sharpening the war’s costs … and … further sapping Russia’s ability to continue manufacturing high-tech weapons. … [T]he West [also] can double down on … the … most important [Russian] revenue source: energy. … [Examining] several thousand products … many have been targeted … by either the E.U. or the United States, but fewer than half … from both. For example, high-end washing machines — banned for export by the E.U. but not … the United States — [sometimes] contain microchips … [usable] in Russia’s arms industry …. [M]any analysts believe tighter controls on electronic components would deepen Moscow’s intensifying problems in producing precision missiles and other advanced weapons systems. …”