Following its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has received a strong degree of sanctions from Western countries. According to an article by Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge, Russia has 5,532 sanctions imposed on it. He cited Castellum.AI, a global risk database, for these figures.
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iran was the most-sanctioned country in recorded history. It has racked up 3,616 sanctions. Durden noted that “U.S., the UN, the EU and countries like Australia, Canada, India and Israel” have been the primary nations and political blocs that have sanctioned Iran. Iran is largely sanctioned due to its sponsorship of militant groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, among others, in addition to its nuclear program, which many nations believe has a military component to it. Overall, Iran’s fervidly anti-Zionist stances have made it an easy target for sanctioning and international condemnation.
Syria is in third place for sanctions. The bulk of the sanctions imposed on it are due to the actions the government of Bashar al Assad has taken in the wake of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 to try to protect the country’s integrity from an assortment of rebel forces — this includes radical islamists (domestic and international), so-called moderate rebels, and other disgruntled groups— and external actors such as Turkey and Western intelligence agencies.
The top countries sanctioning Russia include Switzerland (568), the EU (516), and France (512). The bulk of the sanctions target individuals. Durden observed that only 366 of the 2,827 sanctions were “geared towards entities.”
What’s not included in the sanction numbers are the broad-based sanctions such as the trade embargoes implemented on gas or oil. In addition to the sanctions that countries and governmental bodies have slapped on gas and oil.
What’s more, north of 300 companies have made partial or total withdrawals from the Russian market per research at the Yale School of Management. Some of these companies include Adidas, Google, Disney, Exxon, or Volkswagen.
The current sanctions push against Russia has basically created the conditions for its departure from the West and is now embracing a Eurasian identity in terms of culture, economics, and geopolitics. At the end of the day, sanctions don’t work — from Cuba all the way to Russia — and fail to topple regimes. Instead, these sanctions encourage “rogue” countries to pact together and create new geoeconomic blocs that challenge the West.
Every action generates a reaction. The West should be aware of this, but so far it seems that it’s caught in a trance of arrogance that prevents it from seeing this reality.
