Are Sanctions Slowing Down Russia's War Machine?
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4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2023
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
Along with sending billions of dollars in military aid to Ukrainian forces, the US has responded with a wide range of sanctions meant to cripple Putin's war machine, targeting Russian banks, finances, oil, and Russia's billionaire oligarchs.
But as the war continues, critics are asking just how effective the sanctions have been.
Host Michel Martin speaks with Edward Fishman of Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. From 2013 to 2017 he was part of the US State Department, where he was involved in the effort to sanction Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In fact, he invades Ukraine. |
| 0:03.8 | It will be severe consequences. |
| 0:06.8 | Severe consequences. |
| 0:08.5 | Economic consequences like none he's ever seen or have ever had been seen. |
| 0:13.2 | President Biden said these words a few weeks before Russian leader Vladimir Putin did order |
| 0:17.5 | the invasion of Ukraine back in February 2022. |
| 0:21.3 | Since then the U.S. has sent billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine along with |
| 0:25.0 | other full-throwed support to Ukraine's resistance. |
| 0:28.0 | The U.S. officials have tried to follow through on Biden's promise, imposing sweeping sanctions |
| 0:33.0 | targeting everything from Russian banking assets to oil revenues to Russian oligarchs. |
| 0:38.2 | We're going to seize the reyats, the luxury homes and other oligarchs. |
| 0:42.4 | It was all part of an effort not just to signal the West's disapproval of Russia's aggression, |
| 0:47.4 | but also to cut off the money spigot making the war possible. |
| 0:51.2 | But from the beginning some observers warned that sanctions would be adult instrument and |
| 0:55.6 | might not work at all. |
| 0:57.2 | Russian PR's National Political Correspondent, Mara Liusin, reported that Russia might be |
| 1:01.2 | prepared to weather economic constraints imposed by the West. |
| 1:05.1 | It's unclear how much any of these sanctions will hurt Russia, hurt Putin, hurt his inner |
| 1:09.9 | circle because Russia has been stockpiling assets, foreign currency and gold so that they |
| 1:15.9 | could weather sanctions at least for a while. |
| 1:18.5 | One big reason that Russia might have been prepared to wait out an economic assault, |
| 1:22.8 | is that America Putin had seen that play before, the U.S. and its allies have tried to use |
... |
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