usa sanction and policies on Russia in

the years 2021-2022.

Analitical question: if sanctions are helpful or not.

Written by: Zuzanna Kanarek

Course: U.S. Policies in Eastern Europe after the Fall of the Soviet Union
Coordinator of the course: dr hab.Nataliya Gorodnia
 Sanctions were used by many countries as a way of some last weapon before the war.

This is a diplomatic way to stop aggressions and some bad behavior from other countries.

Many countries and leaders don’t take them seriously, they just find a way to work around

them. But nobody wants a real war, they just want to keep it peaceful. So they use any other

way to keep it peaceful. Sanctions are the only diplomatic way to keep it that way. Russia is a

very controversial country when we want to compare it nationwide. Other countries have

been taking some actions against its politics for many years. Recently Russia made open

aggression on Ukraine, so it could not be left out without consequences. Many countries put

sanctions on Russia that were more powerful than previous. But the one that I want to focus

on is how the US reacted and what steps they took in order to keep Russia accountable for

their actions. In this essay I would like to compare sanctions before and after open

aggression on Ukraine and if they were really helpful or not really.

As we know, Russia for many years has been very problematic. The USA has been

fighting in a political war against Russia from the beginning. We know that the first

aggression of Russia on Ukraine began in 2014. And it caused most of the sanctions that were

imposed in 2014 and later. The United States impose sanction on Russia and suspended

discussions on trade and investment and military-to-military contacts 1. After that there were

many other sanctions and restrictions in 2017,2018,2019, but I would like to focus mostly on

time during 2021-2022. In 2021 president Biden spoke with Putin and “voiced [U.S.]

concerns over the sudden Russian military build-up in occupied Crimea and on Ukraine’s

borders, and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions.” The first sanction that we see in 2021

was on 11th of January. USA made decision to impose sanction on 7 different individuals four

entities that are part of a Russia-linked foreign influence network associated with Andrii

1
Russia: Foreign Policy and U.S. Relations. 2021, April. Congressional Research Service
Derkach, who was designated on September 10, 2020, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 2.

The next one were only week after on 19th of January, US put sanction on big project Nord

stream 2: ,,Nord Stream 2, if completed, would give Russia the means to completely bypass

Ukraine, depriving Ukraine of vital revenues and opening it up to further Russian aggressive

actions, while providing the means to use natural resources as a tool of political pressure and

malign influence against western Europe. Today’s announcement demonstrates that the

United States is not afraid to hold accountable those who continue to aid and abet this tool of

Russian coercion.’’3. It was a big step from the USA to go against big projects like this and it

showed that they are not accepting what is happening between Russia and ukraine.

All of these sanctions were imposed before February 2022. We know that in February

2022 Russia begin open and aggressive attack on Ukraine. In February 24, 2022, Russia

initiated an invasion of Ukraine without provocation, shortly after officially acknowledging

the autonomy of the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. In the response

USA take some actions and immediately made some sanctions towards Russia:

● On February 22, the Treasury Department announced the first U.S. tranche of

sanctions in lockstep with allies and partners. Blocking sanctions against major

Russian banks (VEB and Promsvyazbank) were announced, as were additional

restrictions on Russian sovereign debt, and sanctions on Kremlin-connected elites.

● On February 24, the Treasury Department announced further measures on Russia,

including the imposition of sanctions on more Russian banks, the expansion of

Russia-related debt and equity restrictions to major state-owned enterprises (SOEs)

2
“Sanctioning Russia-Linked Disinformation Network for Its Involvement in Attempts to Influence U.S.
Election - United States Department of State.” U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State.
Accessed May 6, 2023.

3
“Sanctions on Russian Entity and a Vessel Engaging in the Construction of Nord Stream 2 - United
States Department of State.” 2021.
 and private companies, and imposition of blocking sanctions on more Kremlin-

connected political and business elites.

● On March 24, Treasury imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian defense companies,

328 members of the Russian State Duma, and the head of Russia’s largest financial

institution – Sber (Sberbank).

● On March 31, Treasury announced additional sanctions designations against the

Russian technology sector to prevent evasion of multilateral sanctions and the

procurement of critical Western technology.

● On April 6, Treasury imposed full blocking sanctions on Sberbank, Russia’s largest

state-owned bank, and Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest private bank. Treasury also

targeted family members of President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey

Lavrov, and Russian Security Council members.

● On April 7, Treasury imposed full blocking sanctions on Alrosa, a Russian state-

owned enterprise (SOE) and the world’s largest diamond mining company,

responsible for 90 percent of Russia’s diamond mining capacity. The Department of

State also re-designated the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).

● On April 20, Treasury made further designations of entities and individuals involved

in attempts to evade sanctions, including a virtual currency mining company.

● On May 8, Treasury announced new Specially Designated National (SDN)

designations of leading Russian financial sector executives, defense and media

entities, and prohibited provision of U.S. accounting, trust and corporate formation,

and management consulting services to any person located in the Russian Federation.

● On June 2, Treasury announced new Specially Designated National (SDN)

designations of Russian government officials, Putin associates, and representatives of

related financial support networks.

 ● On June 28, Treasury announced new Specially Designated National (SDN)

designations of 70 Russian entities critical to the Russian Federation’s defense

industrial base, including State Corporation Rostec, and announced a prohibition on

the importation into the United States of gold of Russian Federation origin. 4

Now that we know a little bit about all these sanctions I would like to compare them.

We know that sanctions that were put before February 2022 were not so strong and forward.

They were focusing more on nature and specific individuals. On the other hand the sanctions

that were put after February 2022 were supposed to put pressure on the Russian government.

They strike mostly in the economy, many businesses canceled their brands in Russia and

many nationwide firms didn’t want to work with Russian economists. The other important

thing is the timing in which those sanctions were imposed. The sanctions imposed before

February 2022 were often in response to specific actions taken by the Russian government,

such as interference in elections or the annexation of Crimea. The February 2022 sanctions

were imposed in anticipation of potential military action by Russia against Ukraine. Also the

February sanctions are more important because beside the USA there were many other

countries that were imposing sanctions on Russia, which makes them more effective. The

February 2022 sanctions were also more severe than previous measures, with potentially

significant impacts on the Russian economy. For example, the ban on US banks participating

in the primary market for Russian sovereign debt could make it much more difficult for

Russia to raise funds on international markets. Finally, it is worth noting that the February

2022 sanctions were imposed by the Biden administration, which has taken a generally

tougher stance on Russia than the previous administration. The Biden administration has been

more vocal in its criticism of Russia's human rights record and aggressive actions, and has

4
1. “Russia - Sanctions Framework.” International Trade Administration | Trade.gov. Accessed May 6,
2023. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/russia-sanctions-framework.
taken several steps to impose costs on the Russian government. It remains to be seen how this

approach will evolve over time, but the February 2022 sanctions suggest that the US is

willing to take more aggressive measures to counter Russian aggression.

I would like to think a little about the question: If sanctions bring more help or harm?

Most of my knowledge comes from Richard Hanania article ,,Ineffective, Immoral,

Politically Convenient. America’s Overreliance on Economic Sanctions and What to Do

about It’’5. Article was written in 2020 so before open aggression but we can compare his

views to the situation that we have right now. Richard Hanania thought in 2020 that sanctions

mostly hurt inocent people. And we can see it is in some way true because as we see

sanctions in 2022 many russian people got banned from going to other countries. It caused

many problems for basic people. Of course it doesn’t mean that Russia shouldn’t be held

accountable but most of the sanctions affected common people. Especially when countries

have leaders like Putin, who is not the most sane person on the planet. And he was prepared

for the consequences of his actions. Also he’s a dictator and he doesn’t really care about

people that live in Russia. We know that sanctions are the only way to keep the war

diplomatic but if we think about this at our current time, Russia has already begun war. The

only thing we can do is support Ukraine through putting more sanctions on Russia and

putting more pressure on them to stop their actions. We can’t say that sanctions aren’t

helpful, they not as effective as we would like them to be but now it’s our only way to fight

and openly show our disagreement with Putin's actions.

5
Cato.org. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/ineffective-immoral-
politically-convenient-americas-overreliance-economic-sanctions.
Bibliography:

• Cato.org. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/ineffective-

immoral-politically-convenient-americas-overreliance-economic-sanctions.

• Russia: Foreign Policy and U.S. Relations. 2021, April. Congressional Research

Service

• “Russia - Sanctions Framework.” International Trade Administration | Trade.gov.

Accessed May 6, 2023. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/russia-

sanctions-framework.

• “Sanctions on Russian Entity and a Vessel Engaging in the Construction of Nord

Stream 2 - United States Department of State.” 2021.

• Sanctioning Russia-Linked Disinformation Network for Its Involvement in Attempts

to Influence U.S. Election - United States Department of State.” U.S. Department of

State. U.S. Department of State. Accessed May 6, 2023.