The domestic and global consequences of sanctioning Russia

Congress has sent 14 billion dollars worth of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and now President Joe Biden says the U.S. will accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. But most of the efforts from the U.S., its Western allies, and Japan, is to break Russia economically.

In early March, economic sanctions went into effect on Russia’s central bank, which have been called the “single largest action” of such kind in modern history. In cutting off Russia from its financial reserves, its currency, the ruble, has recently been put on the brink of default.

“This isn’t about the United States. Neither the sanction story, really, nor this question about the ramifications are about the U.S. because the scale of trade and even financial intersection between Russia and America is really, pretty trivial.” — Adam Tooze, Columbia University

Listen: How the sanctions are having a greater impact in Europe compared to the U.S.

Adam Tooze is an economic history professor at Columbia University, author of many books on the economy, most recently “Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World’s Economy.” He says sanctions are mostly hurting markets in India and European countries because Russia sells oil to those nations.

“This isn’t about the United States,” says Tooze. “Neither the sanction story, really, nor this question about the ramifications are about the U.S. because the scale of trade and even financial intersection between Russia and America is really, pretty trivial.”