How far can Joe Biden push economic sanctions?
Illustration: Michael Houtz; Photo: Getty Images When President Biden addressed the nation on February 24 from the White House, Russian soldiers were already well on the way to Ukraine’s largest cities and scores of people were being killed on both sides. The response from the U.S. and the other G7 countries was to fashion the global financial system they control into a weapon and unleash it on Moscow.
The thing about international sanctions is that they show not only what the target country needs to survive but what the sanctioners can — and cannot — live without. Russia’s financial sector, never a major powerhouse, was the prime loser. Four of Russia’s largest banks, including Sberbank and VTB, were targeted by the U.S. following Russia’s invasion, with the Treasury blocking the ability of some to access transactions made in the dollar and freezing the assets of others. The U.S.
In his speech, Biden called the sanctions “profound” and said that they “exceed anything that’s ever been done.” That’s true, but the examples he’s referring to are paltry: Iran, Cuba, North Korea. Russia is a $1.5 trillion economy. “Russia is twice the size of every other economy that has ever been sanctioned combined,” says Adam M.
At the most severe end of possible sanctions is a full embargo. Individuals and companies could be put on the Treasury’s blacklist, officially known as the Specially Designated Nationals List. It has been used to isolate terrorist organizations, individual Russian oligarchs, and state-affiliated companies. But if the U.S.
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