The U.S. Hurt Itself With Russia Sanctions

A new book shows how the unprecedented financial punishments failed to stop Russia, while revealing the American worst-case playbook.

imposed new sanctions because the last guy didn’t—a logic that only hardened attitudes in the Kremlin.

Two and a half years after the invasion, it is clear that sanctions have not had the devastating effect on Russia’s economy that the Biden administration expected. The ruble has not crashed. Russia’s economic growth is strong, projected to be higher than France’s or Germany’s this year.

The disappearance of McDonald’s from the Russian market is a symbolic blow, a reversal of the hopeful symbolism of 1990 when the Cold War ended, but the domestic replacement, Vkusno i Tochka, has picked up the slack serving Russia’s fast-food diners. That is the story for most sectors of domestic production that have been affected by sanctions, in part because Putin made it his goal after 2014 to make his country sanction-proof.

When de-SWIFTing was first floated in 2014, Russia moved to create its own alternative payment systems. The Mir card was launched domestically in 2016, which allowed Russian consumers to survive the withdrawal of Visa and Mastercard from the Russian market in 2022. Without that alternative in place, the Russian economy might indeed have crashed.

​​​​​​​“Many Western leaders hoped that the sanctions would quickly kneecap Putin’s war machine,” Baker writes. She concedes, “That proved overly optimistic.” But that does not go far enough. These unprecedented sanctions have actually hurt America more than they have helped us, in at least three ways.
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Loss of Pokrovsk will lead to halving of steel production in Ukraine, - Ukrmetallurgprom

If Pokrovsk is lost, steel production in Ukraine could be halved due to a shortage of coking coal.

This was stated by the president of Ukrmetallurgprom, Oleksandr Kalenkov, reports EP.

He noted that currently, the territory controlled by Ukraine has the resources to reach a steel production level of 12 million tons per year, but in the first two years of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine's steel production was 6-6.5 million tons per year.

"In two years, we have smelted 6-6.5 million tons of steel, and this year we can reach 7.5 million tons. If we lose Pokrovsk, it will be 2-3 million tons," Kalenkov said.

Kalenkov reminded that Pokrovsk remains the only mine controlled by Ukraine that produces coking coal for metallurgy, so if the government loses control of the city, there will be a shortage of it.

• A Nato spokesperson said a Reuters report that Russia has established a weapons programme in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones for use in its war against Ukraine was “deeply concerning” and that Nato “allies are consulting on this matter”. The White House national security council said it appeared to be an instance of a Chinese company providing lethal assistance to a US-sanctioned Russian firm. The White House had not seen anything to suggest the Chinese government was aware of the transactions involved, but China had a responsibility to ensure companies weren’t providing lethal aid to Russia for use by its military, a spokesperson added. IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey, has developed and flight-tested a new drone model called Garpiya-3 (G3) in China with the help of local specialists, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two sources from a European intelligence agency and documents it had reviewed.
  

• Summary

• With months left in office, Biden makes major commitment to Ukraine
• Zelenskiy to visit Capitol Hill amid Republican criticism
• Biden orders expansion of training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s
• Trump, irked, steering clear of meeting Zelenskiy

WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden announced more than $8 billion in military assistance for Ukraine on Thursday to help Kyiv "win this war" against Russian invaders, using a visit by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to make a major commitment.
The aid includes the first shipment of a precision-guided glide bomb called the Joint Standoff Weapon, with a range of up to 81 miles (130 km). The medium-range missile gives Ukraine a major upgrade to the weapons it is using to strike Russian forces, allowing the Ukrainians to do it at safer distances.