How could Russia strike back against U.S. sanctions?

The West is starting to flex its economic and social muscles. What leverage does Vladimir Putin have?

Vladimir Putin
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Sergei Chirikov))

The Obama administration is slowly — some might say gently — tightening the screws on Russia in retaliation for Moscow's decision to occupy, then annex the Ukrainian province of Crimea. Last Thursday, President Obama announced new sanctions against 16 Russian billionaire businessmen and government officials close to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and one Kremlin-linked bank. Obama also signed an executive order to cut off various sectors of the Russian economy if Putin escalates the conflict with Ukraine.

It's early days, but the new sanctions — including similar moves by Europe — and the threats of even more to come already seem to be causing Putin's cronies some pain. On Thursday, credit-rating giants Standard & Poor's and Fitch downgraded Russia's credit outlook to negative, from stable, feeding a broad, sharp selloff in Russian stocks. Visa and MasterCard (at least temporarily) stopped processing payments for the blacklisted bank, Rossiya. The Russian oligarchs must be getting nervous.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.