Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the world has been wondering how the conflict

might end. And imposing sanctions on Russia has been a key part of the international response.

The goal is to make it economically painful for the Kremlin and those allied with it to

wage war. Some of the targets, state-controlled companies, banks, the Russian defense industry.

They're strategically applying pressure to one group of citizens in particular. The elite

and Uber wealthy. They're seizing their assets and yachts. They're banning oligarchs from travel,

cutting them off from doing business. It's very difficult now, if not impossible, to conduct

business as usual if you are one of the sanctioned oligarchs. Recoats Wizzy Kim is here to explain how

the rich and powerful in Russia have become pawns in the international response to the invasion of

Ukraine. The goal here is not just to make them miserable, although I don't think they're very happy

right now. The goal is to squeeze the Uber wealthy, the elites of Russia, so that they will hopefully

put pressure on Putin and his decision-making in de-escalating the conflict in Ukraine.

Does it seem realistic that the Uber wealthy in Russia would actually hold some kind of sway

over what Putin does? That's sort of the complicated part. There's been a great deal of evolution

in the kinds of oligarchs that have power and what it really means to be an oligarch in Russia at all

today. There are sort of the old school oligarchs who first came to power in the 1990s under President

Boris Yeltsin, and that happened during the privatization efforts after the fall of the

Soviet Union, and they are kind of considered almost the outsiders now. They feel less influential,

they feel less like they're holding the reins in the Kremlin, or they have felt that way in the past

decade or so. And then there's the second group, which are called the Syloviki, and these are

men with generally ties to the security state or the military, who Putin kind of helped install

into power when he became President in 2000. Finally, we have the really close inner circle

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