JRL NEWSWATCH: “Six months into war, Russian goods still flowing to U.S.” – AP
“… [AP] found [that] more than 3,600 shipments … have arrived at U.S. ports from Russia since it began launching missiles and airstrikes into [Ukraine]. … a significant drop from the same period in 2021 … but … add[ing] up to more than $1 billion … a month. … Russia and the U.S. were never major trading partners … so sanctioning imports is only a very small slice of the retaliatory strategy. Restrictions on exports from the U.S. –- of technology in particular –- cause more damage to the Russian economy, and sanctioning the Russian Central Bank has frozen Russia’s access to roughly $600 billion in currency reserves held across the U.S. and Europe. Nonetheless, sanctions carry a symbolic weight … “