Putting pressure on Putin’s empire
Since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, western nations have been tightening the sanctions regime. They started by targeting individuals and expanded to include sectoral sanctions, gradually restricting access to western financing and capital.
By and large, Russia has managed to limit the damage and learnt to live with the sanctions, and the punitive measures have had no noticeable effect on President Vladimir Putin’s behaviour. On the contrary, he has confronted the western liberal order with increasingly aggressive tactics.
He has consolidated Russia’s presence in eastern Ukraine, intervened in Syria to rescue Bashar al-Assad’s murderous dictatorship and appears to have interfered in US 2016 elections. More recently, Moscow is alleged by the UK government to have used a deadly nerve agent against a former double agent on British soil.
However, the latest round of sanctions announced by the US are potentially more damaging to the Russian economy than previous measures because they are harder for Putin to shrug off. The new measures cast the net wide and not only around close allies of Putin. Given the uncertainty in the geostrategic climate, it is unclear how safe it will be to trade with Russian entities without incurring US wrath. As with Iran, resulting trepidation could begin to freeze Russia out of the global financial system.
Washington is right to have ramped up the US response. Russian businesses that profit from Putin’s corrupt system should not be insulated from the destabilising activity of his regime. Whether these measures go far enough to change Putin’s calculus is another matter.
President Donald Trump has put Syria and Russia on notice, warning that a missile strike is imminent, though allies are urging that there should be evidence of chemical warfare before military action is taken. Instead of threatening retaliation, which could trigger a confrontation with the West, Putin should rein in the monstrous regime he has been propping up. London, April 12