Nixey said that the options are limited. The military option has been taken off the table because the U.S. doesn't want a war that could escalate into something unimaginable. Washington and Europe are alarmed at the buildup of 90,000 Russian troops along the Ukrainian border, which they say could be a saber-rattling or preparation for a devastating attack against the former Soviet republic.
Russia sees Ukraine as its strategic and spiritual backyard and wants assurances from the West that it will never join NATO or host American short-range missiles.
Ukraine has been denied NATO membership for years and is not able to enjoy the one and one for all principle of collective defense that is the cornerstone of the alliance.
The U.S. has committed $2.5 billion in military assistance for Ukraine after Russia invaded its Crimea Peninsula in 2014. According to Nixey, the amount is relatively small. The U.S. and the European Union have already started a series of sanctions against Russia. This contributed to Russia's worst recession in 20 years, coupled with plummeting oil prices.
The Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington think tank, said in a 2019 briefing that Russia's economy has rebounded and there doesn't seem to have been much immediate effect on its behavior. Russia is still active in Ukraine and, according to Western intelligence agencies, Moscow has meddled in U.S. and European elections, all of which Russia denies.
One particularly painful option would be to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT international payment system, which facilitates transfers between thousands of banks worldwide.
Russia is so dependent on SWIFT to export oil and gas, that in 2019 it's then Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said blocking it would be a declaration of war. The U.S. suggested that the new and controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany could be suspended in the event of an invasion.
If Vladimir Putin wants to see gas flow through the pipeline, he may not want to take the risk of invading Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Tuesday.