Western Sanctions Undo ‘Three Decades Of Russian Economic Progress

Sanctions reversed economic progress

Western sanctions have changed “30 years of Russian economic progress” in just a few weeks, White House’s Jen Psaki said on Tuesday Western countries and trade blocs levied heavy financial sanctions on Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February.The measures include restricting Russia’s access to the SWIFT international-payments system, banning transactions with the Russian central bank, banning Russian oil imports into the US, and banning the trade of luxury goods.

Psaki said

Psaki said, “The unprecedented costs we’ve charged with partners reversed 30 years of economic progress, something President Putin himself pushed for, and that has happened in less than a month Western sanctions target Russia’s $640 billion in foreign reserves so that the country couldn’t use them to support its economy.

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Russia’s finance minister said

Russia’s finance minister said Interfax that this had frozen around $300 billion of foreign reserves. Psaki said, “He can’t use these rainy-day reserves to support his war in Ukraine,” and she added, “The ruble is less than a penny.”

Sanctioning a few Russian oligarchs

The West has also levied sanctions on a few Russian oligarchs and has frozen the foreign-held assets of Putin, other Kremlin leaders, and many high-profile individuals. Europe had grabbed at least five yachts owned by Russian oligarchs, Psaki said.

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 Psaki continued

Psaki continued, “Our actions have hit badly at the things President Putin cares about the most: degrading his military, the country’s access to cutting-edge technology, and its ability to project power and influence. Mikhail Khodorkovsky hinted that prohibiting all Putin’s bankers and sanctioning every oligarch was the ‘only break’ that would stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.