War in Ukraine: Westerners tighten their sanctions against Russia
Meeting at a summit this Thursday evening, February 24, European leaders approved a new set of sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
AP - Olivier Hostlet
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
Russia unleashed a massive attack on Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, to which the West responded with new sanctions.
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For the first time since the start of
the Russian invasion of Ukraine
, US President Joe Biden spoke on Thursday evening.
Vladimir Putin will become "
a pariah on the international scene
," he said at a press conference from the White House.
If the United States does not send soldiers to Ukraine, they keep knocking on the pocketbook.
US authorities have targeted the country's two largest banks, Sberbank and VTB Bank.
Energy giant Gazprom and other big companies in the country – 13 in total – will no longer be able to raise money on Western financial markets.
A sanction that had already been taken against the Russian government itself.
►
To read also: Sanctions against Russia: "We must go further and hit Putin's assets"
Washington has also extended the list of penalized Russian oligarchs and restricted exports to Russia of technological products intended for the defense and aeronautics sectors.
This will impose a “
severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and in the long term
”, assured Joe Biden.
But these sanctions do not go as far as some observers expected.
In particular, they avoid excluding Russia from the Swift banking network, which makes it possible to receive or send payments worldwide.
This would have deprived the country of its ability to easily dispose of its barrels of oil, a major source of income.
This measure is always “
an option
”, however underlined the American president.
“Massive” EU sanctions
Meeting at the summit, European leaders also approved "
massive
" sanctions against Russia.
These include drastically limiting Russia's access to European capital markets, hampering Moscow's ability to refinance its debt there.
The EU will also reduce Russia's access to "
crucial technologies
", depriving it of electronic components and software, so as to "
seriously penalize all aspects of the Russian economy
", specified the president of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
The measures will cover dual-use goods (both civilian and military), the energy and transport sectors, new sanctions against individuals (asset freezing, visa blocking).
They will be added to those already in force on Wednesday evening, in particular against personalities close to Putin.
Other sanctions have been announced by Canada.
They will target “
members of the Russian elite
”, “
big Russian banks
” and “
members of the Russian Security Council
” in particular, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Ministers specifically targeted: those of Defense, Finance and Justice, as well as the group of Russian mercenaries Wagner, reputed to be close to President Vladimir Putin.
"
We are stopping all export permits for Russia
," added Justin Trudeau, saying that the Russian invasion of Ukraine represented a "
huge threat (to) security and peace in the world
".
The export permits suspended by Canada are worth more than 700 million Canadian dollars (487 million euros) and target, for example, companies in the aerospace, mining and information technology sectors.
These sanctions apply "
immediately
" and "
will limit President Putin's ability to continue funding this unwarranted invasion
," said Justin Trudeau.
Russia prepared
But Russia is used to sanctions.
Since its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and those which have durably weakened the rouble, Moscow has endeavored to erect a fortress supposed to resist external shocks by building up a solid financial mattress.
It has over $180 billion in its sovereign wealth fund.
The country, one of the least indebted in the world, has also accumulated nearly 640 billion dollars in its foreign exchange reserves.
Russian ratings agency Acra estimates that the country's banks imported some $5 billion worth of foreign currency last December, nearly double the amount of the previous year.
Above all, Russia has pursued a policy of “de-dollarization” in recent years to be less exposed to American sanctions.
Moscow has therefore bet more on other currencies, such as the euro, and has developed an alternative system to the Swift interbank network.
It will also be able to easily trade and finance itself thanks to cryptocurrencies, as Iran did to ease the financial blockade that hits it.
In addition, Russia has developed local production to limit the import of certain agri-food products from the European Union.
However, the effectiveness of these preventive measures divides the experts.
►
To read also: Why Russia considers itself invulnerable to sanctions
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