Sanctions that plagued Russia following Ukraine invasion

Illustration: TBS

Russia has faced much backlash from the global arena since it invaded Ukraine a year ago.

The United States, European Union, United Kingdom and a few other countries have imposed slews of sanctions on Russia to cripple its economy in a bid to slow down the war.

The war in Ukraine and massive sanctions against Russia have triggered a contraction in global trade and sent food and energy prices sharply higher, dealing a blow to global growth, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters on 10 March 2022.

Various types of sanctions may be imposed on a country including on companies, on trade deals, on border control and other aspects of communication between countries. However, essential goods are not ususally brought under the purview of the sanctions.

In June 2022, Former Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Humayun Kabir said that the general policy followed while imposing sanctions on a country includes keeping humanitarian aspects out of the sanctions.

More than 100 Russian elites, including members of Putin's family (his ex-wife, two adult daughters), his inner circle, members of the Russian parliament, and Russian executives and businessmen, have been sanctioned by Western nations since the war started.

Airlines on 28 February 2022 braced for a potentially lengthy dispute after the European Union (EU) banned Russian airlines from its airspace and Moscow responded in kind, barring carriers from 36 countries including all 27 members of the European Union.

The EU has so far sanctioned more than 1,300 individuals, which translates into limiting their ability to travel and access their money.

On 28 February, the US banned people and companies from doing business with the Bank of Russia, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance. The Treasury Department said the actions effectively immobilize any Russian central bank assets held in the US or by US nationals.

On 2 March 2022, the EU and other western countries announced excluding seven Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system, but stopped short of including those handling energy payments.

SWIFT is a Belgium-based secure messaging platform that facilitates cross-border payments.

This sanction impacted Bangladesh directly as Russia's Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (VEB) ordered halting payments for Bangladesh's Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project through SWIFT.

Russia is now sending money for machinery through brokers rather than sending it directly to Bangladesh.

On 8 March, US President Biden imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports, reports Reuters.

On 5 April 2022, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a prominent Russia-based darknet market site and a cryptocurrency exchange that it said operates primarily out of Moscow and St Petersburg. The new sanctions prohibit US persons from making or receiving "any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services" to Hydra or Garantex, the Treasury said.

On 6 April, the US imposed "full blocking sanctions" on Sberbank  (SBER.MM), which holds one-third of Russia's total banking assets, and Alfabank, the country's fourth largest financial institution. That means US persons cannot do business with the lenders, while any of their assets that touch the US financial system are frozen.

The EU has adopted nine packages of sanctions against Russia and Belarus since the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, but several sectors remain largely untouched as EU governments avoid measures that could damage their own economies more than Russia's.

Switzerland so far has frozen some 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($8.03 billion) in funds and assets under sanctions against Russians to punish Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, government official Erwin Bollinger said on 7 April 2022.

In a sharp deviation from the country's traditional neutrality, Switzerland on 28 February adopted European Union sanctions against Russians involved in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. It is adopting other EU sanctions as well, reports Reuters.

On 2 February 2023, the United States imposed sanctions on 22 individuals and entities in multiple countries that it accused of being tied to a global sanctions evasion network supporting Russia's military-industrial complex.