Anti-Russian Sanctions: Then and Now

ABSTRACT

In March 2014, the United States and European Union announced the imposition of sanctions against Russia through measures affecting the Russian Federation in order for the country to meet unconditionally all the demands of the United States and some Western countries against Russia’s position on the issue of Ukraine. The nature of the sanctions suggest they are aimed at Russia’s international isolation, weakening its economy, discrediting its president, and creating the image of a rogue state. Russia is not the first country against which the United States has applied sanctions without United Nations approval. The author cites examples of these sanctions, compares the anti-Russian sanctions with those carried out in secret under President Reagan to weaken the Soviet economy, and addresses the potential negative consequences for Russia due to the economic and financial sanctions imposed on it.

KEYWORDS:

• Russian Federation
• international sanctions
• economic threats
• the United States
• the “Reagan plan”

This article is the republished version of:

Anti-Russian Sanctions

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. See, for example, L.V. Tikhomirova and M.Iu. Tikhomirov, Iuridicheskaia entsiklopediia (Moscow, 1999), p. 398; L.P. Krysin, Tolkovyi slovar’ inoiazychnykh slov, 2nd ed. (Moscow: Ruskii iazyk, 2000), p. 623.

2. Transcript of President Putin’s address to the Security Council, June 22, 2014; available at www.rg.ru/2014/07/23/stenogramma.html (accessed July 24, 2014).

3. I. Egorov, “Vtoraia ‘kholodnaia,’” Rossiiskaia gazeta, Federal’nyi vypusk, 2014, no. 235, p. 9.

4. Address of President Putin to the Russian Federal Council on December 4, 2014; available at www.rg.ru/2014/12/04/poslanie-site.html (accessed December 5, 2014).

5. Egorov, “Vtoraia ‘kholodnaia,’” p. 9.

6. See I. Cheberko, “GLONASS sokratiat na 16 mlrd. rublei,” Izvestiia: Federal’nyi vypusk, 2014, no. 57, pp. 1, 3.

7. See N. Shvabauer, “Vyvody delat’ rano,” Rossiiskaia gazeta, Biznes, 2014, no. 39, p. 5; A. Baiazitova and A. Krivoruchik, “SShA vydadut vizy sotrudnikam kompanii iz sanktsionnogo spiska,” Izvestiia: Federal’nyi zapusk, 2013, no. 136, pp. 1, 4; V. Buev, “Dostup ogranichen,” Rossiiskaia gazeta: Federal’nyi zapusk, 2014, no. 31, p. 3; “Amerikanskoe izdanie raskrylo detail vozmozhnykh novykh sanktsii ES protiv Rossii”; available at www.militarynews.ru/Story.asp?rid=1&nid=351757 (accessed October 30, 2014); http://webround.su/tema/2014/09/17/mashinostroiteljnyj_zavod (accessed December 24, 2014); “Announcement of Expanded Treasury Sanctions Within the Russian Financial Services, Energy and Defense or Related Materiel Sectors”; available at www.treasury.gov/press-center-/press-releases/Pages/jl2628.aspx (accessed December 10, 2014).

8. “Statement by the President on New Sanctions Related to Russia,” September 11, 2014; available at www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/11/statement-president-new-sanctions-related-russia (accessed December 15, 2014). We should note that this statement took place on the thirteenth anniversary of the four coordinated terrorist attacks on U.S. territory, which left 2,977 people dead. President Putin characterized the events of September 11, 2001, as a global tragedy.

9. “Obama on Sanctions on Commerce with Crimea Region of Ukraine: Statement by the President on Executive Order ‘Blocking Property of Certain Persons and Prohibiting Certain Transactions with Respect to the Crimea Region of Ukraine”; available at http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/English/texttrans/2014/12/20141219312311.html#axzz3MiZApxRt (accessed December 22, 2014).

10. Executive Order 13660, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine”; available at www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/06/executive-order-blocking-property-certain-persons-contributing-situation (accessed December 12, 2014); Executive Order 13661, “Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine,” March 17, 2014; available at www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/17/executive-order-blocking-property-additional-persons-contributing-situation (accessed December 12, 2014); Executive Order “Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine,” March 20, 2014; available at www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/20/executive-order-blocking-property-additional-persons-contributing-situation (accessed December 12, 2014).

11. See www.profi-forex.org/wiki/mezhdunarodnye-sankcii.html (accessed December 23, 2014); “International Sanctions During the 2014 Pro-Russia Unrest in Ukraine”; available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_sanctions_during_the_2014_pro-Russian_unrest_in_Ukraine (accessed December 12, 2014); www.islamnews.ru/news-147345.html (accessed January 28, 2015).

12. “Rompei i Barrozu rasskazali o novykh sanktsiiakh protiv Rossii”; available at www.unian.net/politics/959869-rompey-i-barrozu-rasskazali-o-novyih-sanktsiyah-protiv-rossii.html (accessed November 12, 2014).

13. “What we are seeing is nothing short of camouflaged aggression against Russia intended to cause us maximum economic damage.” See E. Shestakov, “Obama poshel vraznos,” Rossiiskaia gazeta: Federal’nyi vypusk, 2014, no. 160, p. 5.

14. “Forbes: Kak sanktsii SShA protiv RF privedut k padeniiu rezhima Putina”; available at www.unian.net/politics/913114-forbes-kak-sanktsii-ssha-protiv-rf-privedut-k-padeniyu-rejima-putina.html (accessed December 4, 2014) [English original, available at www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/04/28/heres-how-obamas-sanctions-will-destroy-vladimir-putin].

15. A. Alekseevskikh, “Banki zabrali iz Evropy i SShA 500 mlrd. rublei,” Izvestiia: Federal’nyi vypusk, 2014, no. 176, p. 1.

16. Shvabauer, “Vyvody delat’ rano,” p. 5.

17. “The real strength of the sanctions lie in the fact that they are designations. In effect, they are the financial equivalent of leprosy, discouraging financial institutions from touching the targeted entity in any way… . That doesn’t mean that the sanctions will deter Putin … but his actions will incur ever increasing costs that will undermine his already weak regime.” In “Forbes: Kak sanktsii SShA.”

18. The countries in Russia’s far abroad are all but those that emerged from the former Soviet Union and its republics.

19. Transcript of parliamentary hearings in the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovation Development, and Entrepreneurship on the topic “O predlozheniiakh po uskoreniiu sotsial’no-ekonomicheskogo razvitiia Rossii” [Proposals to Accelerate Russia’s Socioeconomic Development]. State Duma Session of September 22, 2014.

20. Ibid.

21. A. Gasiuk, “Shatkaia situatsiia,” Rossiiskaia gazeta: Biznes, 2014, no. 8, p. 5.

22. I. Cheberko, “SShA zapretili postavliat’ v Rossiiu pribory dlia sputnika,” Izvetsiia: Federal’nyi zapusk, 2014, no. 224, p. 3.

23. See, for example, A. Pogosian and A. Kolesnikov, “Nashim uchenym otkazyvaiut v publikatsiiakh za granitsei,” Izvetsiia: Federal’nyi vypusk, 2014, no. 172, pp. 1, 6; I. Cheberko, “Lobbisty iz senata SShA zashchitili ‘Proton’ ot sanktsii,” Izvestiia, 2014, no. 169, pp. 1–2.