CRS Summarizes Trade and Financial Sanctions Against Russia

The Congressional Research Service reviewed the sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Financial Sanctions

  • Central Bank Sanctions. The United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan suspended their transactions with the central bank of Russia in order to block its access to foreign exchange reserves.

  • SWIFT Sanctions. SWIFT removed some, but not all, key Russian financial institutions from SWIFT. Removing all such institutions "make[s] it difficult for them to process cross-border payments, particularly continued payments for European imports of Russian natural gas."

  • Sovereign Debt and Banking Sector Sanctions. The United States and other countries imposed sanctions on Russia pertaining to its sovereign debt and Russian based financial institutions. The United States imposed restrictions on the Russian government's ability to purchase its bonds.

  • General Investment Prohibitions. The United States implemented a new prohibition on investing in the energy sector in the Russian economy.

Trade Sanctions

  • Export Controls. Prohibitions were imposed on certain technologies transfers to Russia and Belarus.
  • Export and Import Restrictions. Bans were imposed on the transfer of United States dollar denominated bank notes and luxury goods to Russia.
  • Revoke PNTR. The U.S. revoked Russia's permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status.

CRS researchers reviewed several bills introduced in Congress that would mitigate the negative impact of the Russian sanctions on the U.S. economy; for example, bills were proposed to expand U.S. fossil fuel production. CRS also reported that Russia has taken retaliatory measures, including restricting the export of various agricultural commodities.

CRS raised additional policy concerns for legislators, including (i) the economic impact of both sanctions and retaliatory measures, (ii) the effectiveness of the sanctions, (iii) the interaction of the sanctions, and (iv) under what conditions would the U.S. lift the sanctions.

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