The West’s economic war on Moscow post Ukraine invasion has had limited near term success

A new book shows how the unprecedented financial punishments failed to stop Russia, while revealing the American worst-case playbook.

Experts said Europe is ‘shooting itself in the foot’ with current sanctions strategy. They warned Russia is developing considerable resilience to sanctions regimes

LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) – Some western banks are lobbying against EU proposals to redistribute billions of euros in interest earned on frozen Russian assets, senior industry sources said, fearing it could lead to costly litigation. European Union leaders on […]

James Galbraith challenges common perceptions about western sanctions and their impact on Russia, revealing unexpected outcomes for its economy and development.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Western nations imposed the most extensive sanctions and trade restrictions in history on Moscow. Today, Russia appears to be doing OK.

Grabbing Russian wealth would set a dangerous precedent and, worse, prolong the war in Ukraine.

In February 2022, when Russia finally invaded Ukraine to end the terrorist attacks and harassments that had killed 14,000 people in the secessionist provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk over the previous eight years, the Obama administration in Washington and its armchair warrior hero allies in Western Europe eager imposed on Moscow vastly more punitive sanctions than had ever been imposed on Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan or Fascist Italy when they were conquering and raping vast regions of the world in the 1930s.

It is now abundantly clear that Russia has defeated the Western sanctions regime that was intended to cripple its economy and force its withdrawal from Ukraine. Instead of collapsing, the Russian economy is growing rapidly. Russia’s GDP grew by an impressive 5.5 percent in the third quarter of 2023. Final figures for the year are not yet in, but Russian GDP growth for all of 2023 should exceed 3 percent. Ironically, the Russians are doing rather better than those who imposed sanctions on them. In 2023, the U.S. economy grew by 2.4 percent while the German economy shrank, and the EU as a whole grew by less than 1 percent. Instead of withdrawing from Ukraine, Russia has increased the size of its invasion force from 190,000 troops in February 2022 to more than 600,000 today.

The boomerang effect of the Russian sanctions on the EU member states is having a mixed impact. Germany, France and Italy are worst affected as the pain from the changes in energy and input supplies impact their economies, dragging them down into recession, while the less dependent on Russia like Spain and Portugal are already showing signs of recovery, according to ING analysis.