Mohamed Zeeshan

Opinion | Ukraine crisis: why Western sanctions against Russia are a double-edged sword

Not only have US and European sanctions largely failed to make authoritarian governments toe the line, they have further entrenched those regimes and fuelled an East-West geopolitical rift

With the West’s influence waning, reviving dialogue with countries that do not share its norms may be the only way out

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Mohamed Zeeshan

Published: 12:30am, 14 Mar 2022

As war rages on in Ukraine, the West has launched a campaign of economic isolation against Russia that is widening in scope every day. First, those close to the Kremlin were targeted. Then, broader segments of the financial system were curbed. The US has banned imports of Russian oil and natural gas, and, with its allies, announced plans to revoke Russia’s preferential trading status.

So far, over 300 companies have pulled out of Russia, either in solidarity with Ukraine or out of fear of widening Western sanctions. That ever-growing and diverse list includes Mastercard, PayPal and Netflix.

Short of outright military confrontation, economic sanctions are as far as the US and its allies can go towards punishing Moscow. For years now, in the aftermath of the debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, successive US presidents have favoured sanctions as a coercive tool.

In 2017, US president Donald Trump added nearly 30 per cent more individuals and entities to the US sanctions list than his predecessor Barack Obama had done in his last year. Obama had added nearly three times as many in his last year in office as he had in 2009.

Yet, despite their growing popularity in war-weary Washington, sanctions have largely failed to achieve their goals, whether in North Korea, Venezuela, Iran or elsewhere. Instead, they have left long-term consequences for the world at large.

Already, the ubiquity of sanctions has begun to accelerate deglobalisation, with China and Russia forging a parallel economic system in response to spiralling tensions with the West.