[…] sanctions have largely cut off state firms from international lending, making refinancing difficult, costly and a burden on the government.
[…] Evgeny Gavrilenkov, chief economist at state-owned Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, argued that sanctions have inadvertently helped Russia’s main oil and financial companies by forcing them to abandon riskier projects before the oil price fell.
“The sanctions did not produce a change in Putin’s foreign policy,” said Brookings Institute fellow Lilia Shevtsova, although she added that the threat of further sanctions may have prevented open Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
Sanctions aimed at individuals failed to change Kremlin behavior and the broader …read more
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
