Russia has become the world leader in terms of the number of sanctions imposed against it

Within a few days of recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR) and the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Russia has become the leading country in terms of the number of sanctions imposed against it. This is reported by Bloomberg, referring to the Castellum.AI database platform.

Currently, the number of objects that have been subject to various sanctions exceeds 5,530, and more than half of them have fallen under restrictions since February 22 – 2,778. These measures are already being compared with a “financial nuclear war,” RBC notes.

As Bloomberg points out, Iran was previously the leader in terms of the number of sanctions targets – 3,616 restrictions. Syria (2 thousand 608), North Korea (2 thousand 7 sanctions) and Venezuela (651) follow.

Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

In particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the sky for Russian aircraft.

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