The conventional wisdom until last week was that sanctions had limited influence on a nation state, especially one as large as Russia. That wisdom may need to be revisited.
The sanctions leveled at Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are likely to do far more damage than President Vladimir Putin had thought possible. By hitting Russia’s commercial banks, central bank, business and political leaders and industry, the West is meting out economic punishment that took years to unfold with smaller rogue states like Iran and North Korea. A Biden administration official on Saturday made the goal clear: turn Russia into “a global, economic, and financial pariah.”
