The US has imposed travel bans, asset freezes and economic restrictions on hundreds of Russian individuals and companies since 2014, part of a multinational effort to punish President Vladimir Putin's government for alleged troublemaking beyond its borders and online. With Russia again massing troops and military equipment near the border with Ukraine, the US and its allies are considering further sanctions in case the conflict escalates.
In the last decade, more people and companies in Russia have been hit by US sanctions than any country other than Iran. Business magnates and close political allies of Putin are banned from doing business with US companies and individuals and making any transactions in dollars. Sberbank, Rosneft, Gazprom Group and VTB Group are all subject to so-called sectoral sanctions that limit their ability to do business abroad. President Joe Biden's restrictions stop the US financial institutions from participating in the primary market for Russian debt.
Washington and its allies are threatening more sweeping penalties if Putin orders troops into Ukraine. There are restrictions on Russia's ability to convert rubles for foreign currency and additional sanctions on banks, key individuals including Putin and the multibillion-dollar Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. The export controls could be applied to everything from aircraft avionics and machine tools to gaming consoles, TVs and smartphones. A more radical option would be to remove Russia from the Swift global payments system.
It's proving hard to agree on the breadth and severity of the penalties. European governments worry that stopping Moscow access to the foreign exchange market would disrupt imports of Russian gas, as the region has suffered its worst energy crunch since the 1970s, and some have asked for exemptions from certain measures. There is disagreement about Russian action that would trigger more sanctions. Any move against Kyiv may not come in the form of a direct and lasting offensive. If Russia launched a massive cyberattack or tried to destabilize Ukraine's government, it might be hard to prove that Moscow is responsible. Putin says there isn't a plan to invade Ukraine.
They were ordered by President Barack Obama after Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and supported a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. More were added after the US intelligence agencies concluded that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election, won by Donald Trump. In 2018, another round of measures were taken in response to Russia's malign activity hit Oleg Deripaska s United Co. Rusal hardest, limiting access to the US $140 billion global aluminum industry.
Other US sanctions were intended to punish Putin's government for a 2018 nerve-agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK. There are sanctions relating to deals with North Korea and deals with South Korea and sanctions against companies involved in building Nord Stream 2. Biden, who took office in 2021, made a promise to impose new sanctions, but he said he decided to make them proportionate in hopes of limiting the further worsening of the relationship.