Russian authorities recently announced that they would be sanctioning high-profile U.S. political leaders including Hillary Clinton — and in response, Clinton didn’t seem particularly concerned. The sanctions, of course, reek of destructive desperation on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, which recently launched an invasion of Ukraine that is now well into its third week. The war in Ukraine has been devastating, with thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed so far and continuing atrocities unfolding across the targeted country, and alongside other responses from world leaders, steep sanctions have been unveiled targeting Putin and his cronies. Russia has become the most-sanctioned country in the world. Clinton, meanwhile, commented as follows this Tuesday regarding news of the retaliatory sanctions from Russia that she’s facing:
‘I want to thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award.’
As noted by Max Seddon, the Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, there’s not much that’s particularly compelling behind the newly announced Russian sanctions. “Russia has sanctioned Joe Biden and a range of other top US officials. The main impact of this is they can now make corny jokes on cable news about how they won’t be able to access their Russian bank accounts or go on vacation in Siberia, I guess,” he quipped.
In memo to employees, Fox confirms the death of Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova. “Sasha was just 24 years old and was serving as a consultant for us in Ukraine. She was helping our crews navigate Kyiv and the surrounding area while gathering information and speaking to sources.”
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 15, 2022
In contrast to what’s sort of the meaninglessness of these Russian sanctions targeting Clinton and the others (including President Joe Biden), the economic counter-measures that have been imposed targeting Russia’s government have had serious impacts and are set to inflict further degradation on the economy there — the Moscow stock exchange hasn’t even been open for weeks, and the value of Russian currency has plummeted. The U.S. has announced bans on Russian energy imports and imports from the country of other goods, like alcohol, seafood, and diamonds — and the U.S. has also announced that it would be ending the trade status designation for Russia in the U.S. that provided for relatively free economic exchanges between the countries. Numerous individual wealthy Russians have also been targeted by sanctions, and around the world, the Russian central bank has been sharply restricted from accessing its hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign currency reserves.
Putin’s aggression against Ukraine has united people across America and the world to act with urgency and resolve.
I want to thank Congressional leadership for working so quickly to make sure we have the resources we need to continue our forceful response to this crisis.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 15, 2022
As President Joe Biden recently explained the situation, “Many issues divide us in Washington, but standing for democracy in Ukraine, pushing [back against] Russia’s aggression should not be one of those issues. The free world is coming together to confront Putin. Our two parties here at home are leading the way… Putin is an aggressor. He is the aggressor. And Putin must pay the price. He cannot pursue a war that threatens the very foundations of international peace and stability and then ask for financial help from the international community.”
Absolutely astonishing. During Russian Channel 1’s evening news broadcast, a woman ran onto the set with a sign: “No war…Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.” pic.twitter.com/wBdFGtzTsg
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) March 14, 2022
