‘Go After the Money’: How to Get Russia to End the Ukraine War

Key Points – While Russia has not yet been forced into submission, there is a strong argument that Western financial sanctions are indeed working and placing the Kremlin under increasing strain over the Ukraine war.

-According to a recent Financial Times analysis citing a CSIS report, Russia has “maxed out” the benefits of its wartime economy and damage to non-military sectors is beginning to show.

-In response, the EU is proposing an 18th sanctions package targeting Russian gas, and a bipartisan bill in the US Senate led by Lindsey Graham seeks to punish countries that buy Russian energy.

-This continued economic pressure comes amid a debate within the Republican party about the best approach to the conflict.

Sanctions: How to Get Russia to End the Ukraine War?

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, sanctions on Russia have been a big part of the West’s response. The US, the European Union, and various Western countries against Russia, Russian products, and Russian individuals have passed numerous sanctions.

Now, with the war at a precarious spot, there’s talk of more sanctions from both the EU and the US Senate. The question has been raised, however, of whether the sanctions are effective.

Are They Working? 

Some might question whether the sanctions are working—after all, despite years of them, Russia hasn’t given up yet, nor have they been forced into submission.

However, Martin Sandbu wrote for the Financial Times, arguing that “Sanctions on Russia are working.”

“This is a time when such pressure should be particularly effective. A new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), with a detailed up-to-date overview of the state of the Russian economy, shows that Putin has maxed out the benefits of “war Keynesianism” of fully mobilising domestic and available foreign resources,” Sandbu writes.

“There is no slack left to exploit, and the damage to non-war-related sectors and activities is beginning to show—to the point where policy is increasingly shaped by the need to protect them and not just boost the war industries.”

Meanwhile, more sanctions are being worked on.

The EU Acts 

Earlier this week, the European Union unveiled a new round of proposed sanctions on Russia. Among other actions, the new sanctions would ban transactions with the Nord Stream pipelines while also lowering the price cap for transactions involving Russian gas.

The package, if passed, would be the 18th set of sanctions on Russia from the EU since the war began more than three years ago.

“We want peace for Ukraine,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said in Brussels this week. “Therefore, we are ramping up pressure on Russia, because strength is the only language that Russia will understand.”

However, Slovakia has threatened to block the sanctions measure, the country’s prime minister, Robert Fico, said this week.

“If there is a sanction that would harm us, I will never vote for it,” Fico said, per Politico. “I am interested in being a constructive player in the European Union, but not at the expense of the Slovak Republic.”

Reuters reported Wednesday that the proposed sanctions package will likely emerge as a major topic of discussion at the upcoming NATO summit in Canada. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend next week’s summit. Zelenskyy has endorsed the new EU sanctions package.

Meanwhile, in the Senate … 

While the Trump Administration has been less unambiguously supportive of Ukraine’s war effort than the Biden Administration, hawkish sentiment remains strong in Congress.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is usually a strong ally of President Trump, is spearheading legislation that would impose tariffs on countries doing business with Russia while also not supporting Ukraine.

“We have been working with the White House since day one in drafting this package.” We now have over 84 Senate cosponsors and 70 House cosponsors of legislation to enact hard-hitting sanctions and tariffs on Russia and its financial backers,” the senator said this week in a Fox News op-ed.  “It is clear to me and virtually every sponsor of the Russia sanctions bill that the way we deal with Putin will either encourage or deter bad actors.”

Also in the Senate this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before the  Senate Appropriations Committee and was asked some tough questions about Russia and Ukraine. He had a particularly tense exchange with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the former Senate Majority Leader, as reported by Politico.

“Vladimir Putin knows that President Trump is strong,” Hegseth said in the hearing. “He knows his word means something, and as a result, a negotiated peace in Ukraine makes America look strong, makes us look like we understand the state of the world.”

“We don’t want a headline at the end of this conflict that says Russia wins and America loses,” McConnell told Hegseth in the hearing, per Politico. “That’s extremely important if we’re going to continue to play the role in the world that the vast majority of members of Congress think we should still play.”

About the Author: 

Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.

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