This week’s conflict begins in Moscow, where correspondent Maria Persson Löfgren meets the young couple Julija and Alexander. Their favorite restaurant, McDonald’s, is closed, but otherwise they do not yet feel the harsh sanctions against Russia. Alexander, who works for Swedish H&M, is at home, but still receives a salary. Where the blame for the war lies, they are unsure, but think it is wrong that Russian-speakers in the West are affected.
The EU, the US and several other Western countries have imposed extensive sanctions on Russia and Majeed Olerud Khoso, group chief at the Foreign Ministry’s unit for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, explains that since the first round of sanctions in 2014, solid experience has been built around which sanctions work and he believes the sanctions has a major impact on Russia’s economy and at the same time shows that the EU is united.
But the total collapse that it first seemed to be has not come. Because, after the ruble plummeted and inflation soared, Putin’s economy now appears to have stabilized again. Robin Olin talks to Sergei Guriev, a former colleague of Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina. The woman who is believed to have played an important role in saving Putin’s war economy.
One group that the West wanted to access with the sanctions is the Russian elite in Putin’s closest circle. But Russian political scientist Tatiana Stanovaja tells reporter Maria Gregorieva how oligarchs and others from the Russian elite have become skilled at coping despite the sanctions. That they should now turn against Putin is purely wishful thinking, she says.
Another group affected by the sanctions are all the Russians who opposed the war from abroad. Like Daria Rudneva, a doctoral student in mathematics and physics. After Stockholm University ended all collaborations with Russia, which included Daria’s exchange program and scholarship, she can now try to raise money by going out with dogs.
So have sanctions ever worked? David Rasmusson interviews Associate Professor Benjamin Coates of Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He specializes in the history of sanctions and has to answer the question of whether sanctions can be an effective alternative to war?
Participants: Josefin Simonsson Brodénsanctions coordinator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majeed Olerud KhosoGroup Head of the Foreign Ministry’s Unit for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Sergei Guriev former principal of the New Economic School in Moscow, Tatiana Stanovajapolitical scientist at the analysis firm R. Politik, Daria Rudnevadoctoral student in mathematics and physics, Benjamin Coates Associate Professor of History at Wake Forest University.
Host: Robin Olin
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Reporters: Maria Persson Löfgren, Maria Georgieva
Technician: Brady Juvier
Producer: David Rasmusson
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Source: ICELAND NEWS