A Recent History of U.S. Sanctions Against Russia
When a direct military confrontation is off the table, how should countries respond to acts of foreign aggression?
One tactic is sanctioning, which applies economic restrictions on a country’s government, businesses, and even individual citizens. In theory, these penalties create enough impact to dissuade further hostility.
Today, the U.S. maintains more sanctions than any other country, and one of its most comprehensive programs is aimed at Russia. To learn more, we’ve compiled an overview of these sanctions using data from the Congressional Research Service and U.S. Treasury.
Sanctions by Catalyst Event
Sanctions are often introduced after a President issues an executive order (EO) that declares a national emergency. This provides special powers to regulate commerce with an aggressor nation.
Our starting point will be Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, as this is where a majority of ongoing sanctions have originated.
Catalyst: 2014 Ukraine Invasion
On March 18, 2014, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. This was denounced by the U.S. and its allies, leading them to impose wide-reaching sanctions. President Obama’s EOs are listed below.
| Executive order (EO) | Date of sanctions | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| EO 13660 | March 2014 | Targets those responsible for undermining Ukraine’s democracy |
| EO 13661 | March 2014 | Targets Russian officials operating in the arms sector |
| EO 13662 | March 2014 | Targets those operating in Russia’s financial, energy, and defense sectors |
| EO 13685 | December 2014 | Prohibits U.S. business in occupied Crimea |
Altogether, these sanctions affect 480 entities (includes businesses and government agencies), 253 individuals, 7 vessels, and 3 aircraft.
Sanctions against ships and planes may seem odd, but these assets are often owned by sanctioned entities. For example, in February 2022, France seized a cargo ship belonging to a sanctioned Russian bank.
Catalyst: U.S. Election Interference
The Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations have all imposed sanctions against Russia for its malicious cyber activities.
| Executive order (EO) | Date of sanctions | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| EO 13757 | December 2016 | Targets those who aim to interfere with the election process |
| EO 13848 | September 2018 | Targets those that have engaged in foreign interference of a U.S. election |
| EO 13849 | September 2018 | Expands the scope of previous sanctions |
| EO 14024 | April 2021 | Targets those engaged in malicious cyber activities on behalf of the Russian government |
Altogether, these sanctions affect 106 entites, 136 individuals, 6 aircraft, and 2 vessels. A critical target is the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian company notorious for its online influence operations.
Prior to the 2016 election, 3,000 IRA-sponsored ads reached up to 10 million Americans on Facebook. This problem escalated in the run-up to the 2020 election, with 140 million Americans being exposed to propaganda on a monthly basis.
Catalyst: Various Geopolitical Dealings
The U.S. maintains various sanctions designed to counteract Russian influence in Syria, Venezuela, and North Korea.
| Executive order (EO) | Date of sanctions* | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| EO 13582 | January 2018, November 2018, September 2019 |
Targets those who provide material support to the government of Syria |
| EO 13850 | March 2019, March 2020, January 2021 |
Targets financial institutions providing support to the government of Venezuela |
| EO 13810 | August 2018, September 2018 |
Targets those who engage in significant transactions with North Korea |
| EO 13382 | June 2019, January 2022 |
Targets those who contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction |
| EO 13722 | November 2020 | Targets those who trade raw materials or software with the government of North Korea |
*These are recent sanctions pursuant to EOs that were issued many years prior. For example, EO 13582 was introduced in August 2011.
These sanctions impact 23 entities, 17 individuals, and 7 vessels. Specific entities include Rosoboronexport, a state-owned arms exporter which was sanctioned for supplying the Syrian government.
As of December 2020, Syria’s government was responsible for the deaths of 156,329 people (civilians and combatants) in the civil war.
Catalyst: Chemical Poisonings of Individuals
The Russian government has been accused of poisoning two individuals in recent years.
The first incident involved Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer who was allegedly poisoned in March 2018 on UK soil. The second, Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, was allegedly poisoned in August 2020.
The Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW Act) allows sanctions against foreign governments that use chemical weapons. Nine individuals and five entities were sanctioned as a result of the two cases.
Catalyst: 2022 Ukraine Invasion
The U.S. has introduced many more sanctions in response to Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine.
EO 14024, which was issued in February 2022, targets Russia’s major financial institutions and their subsidiaries (83 entities in total). Included in this list are the country’s two largest banks, Sberbank and VTB Bank. Together, they hold more than half of all Russian banking assets.
Also targeted are 13 private and state-owned companies deemed to be critical to the Russian economy. Included in this 13 are Rostelecom, Russia’s largest digital services provider, and Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond mining company.
Do Sanctions Work?
Proving that a sanction was solely responsible for an outcome is impossible, though there have been successes in the past. For example, many agree that sanctions played an important role in ending Libya’s weapons of mass destruction programs.
Critics of sanctions argue that imposing economic distress on a country can lead to unintended consequences. One of these is a shift away from the U.S. financial system.
There is no alternative to the dollar and no export market as attractive as the United States. But if Washington continues to force other nations to go along with policies that they consider both illegal and unwise … they are likely to shift away from the United States’ economy and financial system.
Jacob J. Lew, Former Secretary of the Treasury
In other words, sanctions can create an impact as long as the U.S. dollar continues to reign supreme.
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