Severe sanctions have now been brought down on Russia after Tuesday’s actions by Russian President Putin Tuesday. Russian troops are now moving into Ukraine. A big question on people’s minds is are these sanctions going to stop Putin from invading?
Well, the short answer is probably not in the short term but that doesn’t mean the sanctions will not hurt Putin and members around him, with that, said it doesn’t mean even more severe sanctions will not be coming shortly.
Starting you need to understand what sanctions are. In simple terms, they are finical punishments the international community can impose on another country for certain behaviors like human rights violations or invasions.
Sanctions are used as an alternative to military force these punishments can come in lots of different forms including:
- Restrictions on exports the country being punished want other countries to buy.
- Denial of foreign assistance.
- Loan or investments to that country.
- Or blocking foreign assets from that country.
Lots of foreign governments and foreign nationals have their money in the United States and they make a lot of money that way. The United States government in return can seize that money in the event sanctions are being imposed.
In the United States sanctions can be imposed by Congress, the President, or both. The sanctions the president announced Wednesday involve.
- The full blocking of two Russian banks.
- Cutting them off from the west by freezing their assets.
- President Biden also imposed sanctions on Putin and the elite in Russia along with their families.
These specific elites have a specific association with the financial impact of Putin’s moves and his information strategy. The idea behind cutting off their money flow from the United States is those elites will then put pressure on Putin to back down so their money power doesn’t get diminished. Whether Putin cares about that is anyone’s guess.
Another big sanction Wednesday came from the German government. They shut down the completion of Nord Stream 2 a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, at least for now. The two countries were counting on that to bring in lots of money for the two countries’ economies every year. After Germany’s announcement Wednesday that is now not happening.
The United Kingdom also levied sanctions on Russian banks and three additional oligarchs.
President Biden said Wednesday these sanctions are meant to hurt Russia but there may be some kickback back in the United States he said defending freedom will have its price tag. President Biden continues to say he is working with our partners to limit our impact.
