“The basic objective of sanctions,” says long-time Kremlin critic and former Russia investor, Bill Browder, “is to starve Russian president Vladimir Putin of financial resources.” So, have the thousands of sanctions levied against Russian entities, goods and individuals by more than 30 countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, done this? The answer, Mr Browder says, is partially.
“There’s $350bn of central bank reserves which are frozen that [Mr Putin] doesn’t have access to. There’s somewhere north of $100bn dollars of oligarch’s money that’s been frozen. The major Russian banks no longer have access to the capital markets. Many Western companies have either fully or partially withdrawn from Russia.