Doing Right, Deterring or Destabilizing? Western Sanctions on Russia Over the Ukraine Crisis

Abstract

Starting from 2014, the Russian Federation is being exposed to several rounds of international sanctions in response to the annexation of Crimea and Russian support of separatist movements in eastern regions of Ukraine. Even though sanctions have contributed to the weakening of the Russian economy, they have not decreased the domestic support of Russia’s leadership, Vladimir Putin, and, most importantly, sanctions have not been able to reach their initial goal, that of Russia reversing its claim over the Crimean peninsula, while the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine remains restless and insecure. It is thus fair to posit that sanctions imposed on Russia by the Western international community over the Ukraine crisis, proceeding for more than two years, have not succeeded until now. Since the West continues to support an ineffective sanctions policy on Russia vis-à-vis the Ukraine crisis, this study argues that the sanctions against Russia have had broader objectives. This Thesis proposes and tests the hypotheses that given the lack of success of Western sanctions in achieving compliance from Russian government, in reality there exist alternative unheeded functions for the continued Western sanctions against Russia, with the objectives of: ‘doing right’ or expressing international and domestic symbolism on part of the West, ‘deterrence’ or preventing Russia from repeating similar actions elsewhere, and ‘destabilizing’ the present Russian political regime with the aim to subvert Russian President Vladimir Putin.