Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has implemented a broad sweep of sanctions focused on isolating Russia from the global financial system, reducing the profitability of its energy sector, and blunting its military edge. These added to a bevy of sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia after it annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014.
The reelection of U.S. President Donald Trump injected uncertainty into the future of U.S. support for Ukraine, but his administration has not lifted or relaxed the sanctions regime against Russia implemented under President Joe Biden.
As the United States has pushed for new ceasefire talks to no avail, Trump’s ire with Russian President Vladimir Putin has grown, prompting new tariff threats to bring Russia to the negotiating table and more arms for Ukraine.
Financial sector. The United States began its 2022 barrage of sanctions by freezing $5 billion of the Russian central bank’s U.S. assets, an unprecedented move to prevent Moscow from using its foreign reserves to prop up the Russian ruble.
It also barred the largest Russian bank and several others from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a Belgium-based interbank messaging service critical to processing international payments. The U.S. Treasury Department prohibited U.S. investors from trading Russian securities,
including debt; all together, the sanctions restrict dealings with 80 percent of Russian banking sector assets. Washington has also sought to seize the U.S. assets of sanctioned Russian individuals, including President Vladimir Putin.
CFR President Mike Froman analyzes the most important foreign policy story of the week. Plus, get the latest news and insights from the Council’s experts. Every Friday
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