WASHINGTON — Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the United States and its allies have enacted the harshest sanctions ever imposed on a major power, targeting Moscow’s largest financial institutions as well as foreign reserves, its primary exports, its richest citizens and top government officials.
What makes these sanctions so effective is the continued dominance of the U.S. dollar in global financial transactions along with Washington’s ability to coordinate them with an alliance of nations that, together with the United States, make up half the global economy.
And the sanctions keep coming. The United States and Britain have announced new, coordinated sanctions on a near-weekly basis, and the European Union is currently working toward a ban on all imports of Russian oil.
