The Obama administration tightened economic pressure on Russia over its intervention in Ukraine by imposing further sanctions on some Russian individuals and companies. Most of the targeted groups were associates or bank subsidiaries of people and companies already sanctioned before by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The group includes 34 people or…
An EU official told RFE/RL that the EU plans to extend sanctions against Russia when EU ambassadors gather for a meeting slated to take place on December 21. The sanctions to be officially extended until July 31, 2016 target Russia’s financial, oil and military sectors as well as specific individuals. A December 14 meeting of…
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Bryan Early, founding Director of the Project on International Security, Commerce, and Economic Statecraft (PISCES) at the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Early is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Administration, as well as an expert on economic sanctions, proliferation issues and…
Western sanctions from a conglomerate of EU and other Western countries have thus far failed to hit the pressure points in the Russian economy, according to spate of new articles. In fact, their imposition appears to be hurting several Western companies more than Russian ones and the primary factors causing economic pain in Russia are…
Unexpectedly, Russia’s Central Bank cut its interest rate by two points, citing a lower risk for inflation given the impending recession and low growth rates. The ruble weakened again against the dollar after the announcement to 72, its lowest level since December. Western economists cited their surprise at this development, and expressed concern that the…
In December, we had the chance to talk with Eric Lorber, an attorney based in Washington, DC at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP who assists multinational companies in compliance with US economic sanctions. He was formerly a member of the Iran Sanctions Team at the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime (OFAC) in the…
The Russian economy retracted for the first time since 2009, registering a fall of 0.9% in November. The lack of growth exacerbated the ongoing crisis surrounding the ruble, reducing the currency’s value by an additional 7%. Emergency stimulus injected into the currency by the Russian central bank seemingly stopped the currency free fall in weeks…
After Putin’s speech yesterday, the Russian ruble’s precipitous decline has stabilized somewhat. The President of Russia tacitly endorsed the central bank’s policy of interest rate inflation and kept outlook relatively focused on the currency crisis rather than declining government revenues and sanctions. The currency is holding steady right now at 61 rubles on the dollar,…
Following an unsuccessful attempt to prop up the economy by means of an interest increase less than one week ago, the Russian Central Bank again moved to prop up the plummeting Russian ruble by raising the interest rate to 17%. The hike in interest rates coincided with value drops in the Russian ruble not seen…
Today marked the deadline for P5+1 and Iranian negotiators to come to terms on an agreement concerning the Iranian nuclear program. The probability that a “permanent” agreement would be reached in accordance with the deadline was virtually zero as Iranian negotiators had previously declared a deal before November 24 “impossible” and Western negotiators had already begun to…
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