Delays, half-measures and bad enforcement are hurting Ukraine’s cause

If Western countries are serious about sanctioning Russia, they should make it clear that profits are not a justification for trading with war criminals and terrorists, write Anna Romandash and David Cortright.

Anna Romandash is the Fourth Freedom Forum’s first Howard S. Brembeck Fellow, an award-winning journalist from Ukraine, and the author of Women of Ukraine: Reportages from the War and Beyond. 

David Cortright is the chair of the board of directors of the Fourth Freedom Forum and professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is the author and editor of more than 20 books on issues of peace, conflict prevention, and disarmament.

The fight against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine takes place on different fronts. There is the obvious one – military resistance – where Ukrainians do the job; and there are other fronts such as information, culture, and diplomacy. There is also the economic front, where Ukraine’s allies play crucial role and must take stronger measures.

This front is about depriving Russia of arms and reducing its access to Western technology. It’s also about making sure that Russia cannot get the arms its needs to wage war elsewhere.

So far, Ukraine’s allies – a block of mostly Western countries anchored by the EU and the US – have imposed multiple rounds of sanctions to limit the Kremlin’s war-making capacities. The measures are intended to limit the goods that can be exported to Russia and reduce the revenue streams, primarily through energy exports, that pay for the war.

So far the sanctions have not limited Russia’s capability for war. Many reasons play into this.

Russia has upped its arms production, and it is purchasing weapons from non-sanctioning countries. Iran has been a key drone provider alongside large drone purchases from China, and there are reports of North Korea supplying Russia with arms on a large scale.

Russia has been able to get Western technology directly and through third party deals with countries on its periphery.

Some Western companies, such as Haas Automation, have been accused of supplying Russia with precision machining tools made in California. Russian officials are also creating new intermediary companies and are relying on countries which never imposed sanctions to access Western-made technology.

Through backdoor channels and sanctions’ exemptions, Russia keeps on making enough money to sustain a functioning state – and continue a large-scale war.

All of this is happening while there are ongoing debates in Brussels, Washington, and other Western capitals on how to make sanctions work as intended – but without taking the measures necessary to make this happen.

Not all is the lost, however. Sanctions are there, and more are to be added. Governments across different countries now recognize the gaps that exist in applying the sanctions, and there is also a greater recognition of the steps which are needed to address these gaps.

Primarily, no more half measures. Those in Russia supporting the war should feel its cost – instead of experiencing the war as a mere reality show that bears no consequences in real life.

Autocrats win by promising their citizens a good life – but sanctions can quickly show that the good life is nothing but a lie when billions of dollars are spent on fueling mass murders in Ukraine.

Sanctions need to be properly enforced, which means that the relevant agencies in the EU, US, and beyond need to expand their reach and increase investigations into the potentially shady dealings of sanctioned or dual-use goods.

Further, measures should be taken against Russia’s allies, which openly – or discreetly – help it get prohibited goods. We’re talking of the countries on Russia’s borders which benefit greatly from serving as intermediaries for West-Russia trade, and which have not been punished.

The West should stop tiptoeing around different industries and companies. Lobbyists and big business in Europe and the US have been pushing against different sanctions simply because those did not serve their interests.

Continuing trade with Russia as usual helped them generate record revenues – part of which went into Russia either as taxes or direct profits, thus financing the war once more.

If Western countries are serious about sanctions, they need to make difficult decisions – such as committing to the energy transition, to stop relying on fossil fuels, which often come from autocratic countries at high prices.

One of the reasons Russia was able to make hundreds of billions of dollars for its gas, coal, and oil exports in 2022 was because of a huge energy dependency from the EU.

That dependency still exists, although to a lesser extent, but if Western democracies don’t want to have choose which autocracy to get their energy from next, they better invest in energy sources that would not undermine their national security.

The West should make it clear that profits are not a justification for trading with war criminals and terrorists. Great revenues are not an excuse to keep working with Russia if that means war’s continuation.

Violating sanctions should be prosecuted as a serious crime that indirectly and directly leads to more suffering and death.

The more money the Russian government can make, the longer it can keep waging its war. Financing the Russian regime is equivalent to financing the war.

So diminishing that financing – through better sanctions’ enforcement, adding the sectors which were initially left out, and going after the companies making huge profits by circumventing the sanctions are the logical steps which need to be taken.

Sanctions enforcement can be costly – but that cost is lower than a constant loss of life in Ukraine. Going after the Kremlin’s finances is a chance to reduce the duration of the war, which depends on Russia’s ability to finance its military campaigns.

The West has more resources than Russia, and it’s more capable of withstanding the challenges arising from economic shifts – so it needs to commit to making sanctions work with tougher actions, more targets, and a clear objective of stopping Russia’s war revenues and supplies.

Tougher sanctions will require sacrifice but is a sacrifice worth making– for the sake of people in Ukraine, but also those believing in democratic values and hoping to end autocratic victories across the world.

Doing less when it comes to Russian sanctions is dangerous – it shows the collective weakness and hesitancy of the West, and it buys the Kremlin more time to kill Ukrainians. If the West wants to end the Russian war – it needs to get serious about sanctions.