Welcome to Brain Stuff, a production of I-Hart Radio.

Hey, Brain Stuff, Lauren Bulbobom here.

On February 21st of 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an hour-long speech where

he not only recognized the independence of two rushbacked territories in eastern Ukraine,

but also delegitimized the sovereignty of Ukraine itself.

A Putin expanded the idea that Ukraine's borders were drawn up by the Soviet Union's

founder Vladimir Lenin, and still exist only because of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

After the speech, Putin ordered troops into those eastern territories under the guise of them being

peacemakers. Many experts in global geopolitics were concerned, if not horrified by the speech and

invasion, suggesting it was Putin's way of rewriting history, as well as of providing a reason to

launch what could become the largest war in Europe since the end of World War II. The speech came

after Putin had spent months building up Russian military forces surrounding Ukraine. He's also

demanded Ukraine not be allowed to join NATO, the defensive alliance that currently includes 30

countries. So how is the world responding? The NATO Ukraine Commission met in Brussels on Tuesday,

February 22nd of 2022 to address the situation. NATO Secretary Yen Stoltenberg said it will stand

by Ukrainian sovereignty with force, if necessary, but hoped Russia would still choose diplomacy.

So aside from a full-on war, what else are world leaders doing to deter Putin from invading Ukraine?

They're imposing sanctions. So today let's talk about what sanctions are and how they're imposed,

and also what sanctions are supposed to accomplish and how they work.

Very basically, sanctions are sort of economic versions of weaponry designed to turn up the

pressure on another country and its regime's leaders by hitting them in their wallets.

Before the article this episode is based on, House of Works spoke with Ellen Lapson back in 2020.

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