Will Sanctions Finally, Actually Hurt the Russian Economy?

IT MAY not be, as leaders in Washington and Brussels insist, the start of a new cold war. But the punitive sanctions against Russia announced by the European Union and America on July 29th bring to an end a 25-year-long quest to make Moscow a partner of the West. How long the rupture will last and whether it intensifies will depend upon the response of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin—and above all on whether he steps back from escalating the bloody insurrection in eastern Ukraine that he has encouraged. He shows not the slightest sign of doing so. If anything, his belligerence towards the West and his preference for surly isolation are growing.

After months of disjointed action, America and Europe finally put together a tough and co-ordinated package of sanctions targeting state-owned banks and forbidding the export of technologies needed by Russia’s oil and defence industries. On their own, the sanctions will not bring Russia to its knees. But they could do real damage to its already ailing economy.

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