From the meeting where Russia declared the independence of the self-proclaimed so-called “DPR” and “LPR”, not only the active phase of the war in Ukraine began, but also the rapid path of the aggressor state to previously unheard of sanctions, is listed in TSN .

And active hostilities, rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities, atrocities and war crimes committed in the occupied territories – each time only tightened the sanctions noose.

Back in early February, after the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas, Russia already ranks second in the world in terms of the number of sanctions imposed, second only to Iran. However, if earlier there were about three thousand restrictions against Russian individuals and companies, with the beginning of the active phase of the invasion, their number has more than tripled. More than 10,000 restrictions are unprecedented, and by a significant margin from the rest of the exile countries, Russia ranks first in the world in terms of the number of sanctions.

What kind of blows for the aggressor state could be the most painful? Since the beginning of the active phase of the war, this has been the freezing of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the closure of the skies and seaports for Russians, the closure of European borders for Russian and Belarusian trucks, a ban on the sale and transfer of aircraft and parts for them, restricting Russians’ access to advanced technologies and financial sanctions.

The West has arrested half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves – three hundred billion dollars. The rest of Russian assets turned out to be illiquid, this money, for example, is placed in gold or in the international monetary fund, and Moscow cannot use it, it had to limit the movement of capital.

In addition, the supply of Western banknotes to Russia – dollars and euros – was under sanctions. And this brought the aggressor country closer to default, because it needs to pay off its debts with the same dollars. Consequently, the Russian railway has already become the first state-owned company to fail to pay off its debts. Although the head of the Russian central bank convinces the country that everything is according to plan: “The Ministry of Finance has the resources, and from an economic point of view, there can be no question of any default. But we are seeing difficulties with payments.”

The Russian central bank admits very cautiously that the country’s GDP will fall by 10 percent. And the sanctions will hit buyers’ pockets with inflation up to 23 percent. How much the Russian economy actually suffers losses has not been known for some time, the information is simply hidden. After all, Moscow believes that bank reporting and data on public debt and oil can become a source of new Western sanctions, writes The Wall Street Journal.

If the numerous shots of queues at ATMs and crowds for goods in stores leaving Russia showed the consequences of sanctions for ordinary Russians, then the restrictions against the Russian elite are reminiscent of a reality show. One after another, Western law enforcement officers detain luxury yachts of oligarchs and officials in ports. The villas of the Russian elite and propagandists in French and Italian resorts are under arrest, they are carefully outlined or even seized by Western activists as a sign of support for the Ukrainians.

By the way, it is in Britain that Russian oligarchs have to carry out entire operations in order to save their property from arrest – according to the Financial Times, mansions in London are being exchanged for estates in Dubai – in this case, the British police will no longer be able to arrest the property of the oligarchs. However, physical assets are only the tip of the iceberg, because it freezes the West and accounts. Almost $200 billion worth of Russian assets have already been detained in the world.

The hunt for Russian property was announced in many countries of the world – all within the framework of sanctions. The undisputed leader in the number of restrictions is the United States, followed by Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and only then the European Union, France, Australia and Japan.

And the sanctions in these countries are different – so, if the US has imposed restrictions on Russian oil and gas, the EU has not yet done so. At the same time, the European Union and Britain have limited the import of Russian metal, which America and Canada have not yet been able to agree to. Restrictions on luxury goods have not been introduced by the Canadian authorities, neither on exports nor on imports. It is still possible to import food and luxury items from Russia to Britain, Australia and Japan.

If now the effect of unprecedented sanctions on the Russian economy is not as fast as Ukrainians would like, analysts remind, these restrictions can continue for a very long time. And, as the US Secretary of State noted, it is no longer about stopping hostilities, withdrawing troops and liberating Ukrainian territories, but also about guarantees of non-aggression in the future. “We have to make sure that the process is irreversible, that this will never happen again, that Russia will not start the old one in a year, two or three,” he said.

Therefore, there is still a lot of time to lift the sanctions. By the way, the process itself is lengthy, because the restrictions were adopted collectively in some places, and in order to remove them, it will be necessary to convince, for example, all EU member states, or the vast majority of members of the British Parliament. What this threatens Russia with – the consequences are predicted differently, but all options are painful – from the fall of the economy for years – to the collapse of the aggressor state.

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