On 17 March 2014, the United States, the European Union and Canada announced targeted sanctions on Russia. It was the day after the disputed Crimean referendum, and a few hours before Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea as independent. Those measures were the most wide-ranging used against Russia since the Soviet Union fell in 1991.
The 2014 rounds
The first sanctions were narrow. Washington banned technology for oil and gas exploration, banned credit to Russian oil companies and state banks, and restricted travel for influential Russians close to Putin. Moscow answered in August 2014 with a total ban on food imports from the EU, the United States, Norway, Canada and Australia.
Escalation followed the war in Donbas. On 16 July 2014 the US extended its transactions ban to Rosneft and Novatek and to two banks, Gazprombank and Vnesheconombank. On 31 July the EU brought in a third round with an arms embargo, a ban on dual-use goods for military users, controls on oil-industry equipment exports, and limits on trading certain bonds and equities. In September, Washington targeted Sberbank, Rostec and Arctic, deepwater and shale exploration by Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegas and Rosneft.
The EU described its aim in plain terms: sanctions “are not punitive, but designed to bring about a change in policy or activity by the target country.” After the sanctions imposed in August 2018, Russia’s economic losses came to around 0.5 to 1.5% in foregone GDP growth.
After the 2022 invasion
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the United States, the EU and other countries introduced or sharply widened sanctions. Putin and other government officials were added to the lists. Selected Russian banks were cut off from SWIFT. The boycott of Russia and Belarus set off the 2022 Russian financial crisis, and the sanctions pushed down the value of the ruble.
The measures keep coming. On 23 February 2024 the US imposed trade restrictions on 93 entities for helping Russia’s war effort: 63 from Russia, 16 from Turkey, 8 from China and 4 from the UAE. Washington also announced more than 500 further sanctions over the war funding and the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
There are gaps. As of December 2023, Russia’s nuclear industry was still exempt, and Rosatom remained the largest player in the global market for building nuclear reactors.
