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Sanctions against Russia have been a complex and ever-changing US-led effort. Some other countries, most prominently the EU, have also enacted sanctions, but there is not a single set of sanctions that everyone is following. The US, however, does have the power to use economic pressure (by pressuring banks from making sanctioned transaction with Russian banks, for instance, by potentially excluding them from transactions with US banks) to try to enforce sanctions on a wider basis. Likewise, the US can use diplomatic pressure to help enforce sanctions. Countries that have some form of sanctions enacted against Russia include the US, Canada, Japan, Moldova, Iceland, Montenegro, Ukraine, Australia, Georgia, Switzerland, Norway, and French Guiana.
On March 6th, 2014, after President Obama signed an which . The emergency was described as such:
By Executive Order 1360,
On March 17, the USA, European Union and Canada additionally a day after and were held, where, according to the official results, more than 80 percent of Crimean voters agreed on . The vote was criticized abroad for the speed with which it was organized, the fact that Russian military were on the ground at the time, and other reasons.
Countries that have passed sanctions are shown in red. EU countries that voted against sanctions are yellow. Blue countries have discussed enacting sanctions. Click here for the original, full-size image from gazeta.ru
The EU and Canada . These individuals, according the sanctions declaration from the EU and Canada, “
included 27 people – . The EU black list included 33 persons, some are the same as in the US list, but also included Russian TV host Dmitry Kiselev and more people from Crimea’s new government.
Japan also soon These were diplomatic declarations that calling for the
On the 19th of March, the Australian government on some Russian individuals.
From March – early April, Moldova, Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, and Ukraine imposed the same restrictions and travel bans issued by the EU on 17 March.
All this was just the first round of sanctions. A second round followed on 28 April. The US and added seven Russian officials, including Rosneft President Igor Sechin and TV host and Duma Deputy Alexei Pushkov, and banned business transactions with seventeen Russian companies.
On the same day, the European Union issued travel bans against fifteen more individuals and made a statement that Both the USA and the EU stated they would not issue export licenses for products destined for Russia which .
The third round of sanctions commenced on the 17 July when the United States , imposing sanctions on major Russian companies such as Rosneft, Novatek oil company, state-owned banks Vnesheconombank and Gazprombank, as well as on a number of , such as Kalashnikov Concern and Almaz-Antei Corporation (which makes anti-aircraft systems). Soon, in July, the EU expanded its sanctions to an additional 18 individuals and 21 entities, including imposing restrictions on all major government-owned Russian banks and to the Russian energy and defense industries.
On August 6, the USA , as well as equipment for alongside banning supplies of other advanced technologies in oil and gas drilling.
In July-August, 2014, Canada, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and Ukraine imposed sanctions on their own list of major Russian oil and gas producing companies and state-owned banks.
On September 12, the USA imposed further sanctions on oil major oil and gas drilling corporations in Russia, such as Gazprom, Lukoil, Transneft, Gazpromneft, Surgutneftegaz, Novatek, and Rosneft.
Also, on the same day, on giving loans to major Russian banks such as Sberbank, Bank of Moscow, Vnesheconombank and Rosneft and Gazprom companies – RBC agency states that
The US again expanded sanctions in December 2014 by Canada and the EU enacted similar sanctions.
over the last two years. Some have been simply redefined to exclude certain things. For instance, the first round of US sanctions caused widespread confusion in the business community. It was feared that any transaction with any entity even partly owned or controlled by the individuals named was now sanctioned. Among other instances, Visa and Mastercard shut down operations with numerous Russian banks, leaving Russian consumers without access to ATMs or point of sale transactions. The backlash from the Russian government and public was swift and loud and the US quickly clarified that such commercial transactions could continue. In September 2014, Canada . on Turkish DenizBank owned by Sberbank in October 2014. In 2015, after banning all transactions in Crimea shut down Visa and Mastercard there, sanctions were clarified to allow some bank transactions for residents of Crimea. At that time, Crimeans were also allowed to use American social networks (which had also shut down in Crimea because of the broad sanctions).
