Why Western Sanctions Have Failed to Stop Putin

How did the West help create Vladimir Putin's Russia, and why has it struggled to stop him? Award-winning Bloomberg journalist and author Stephanie Baker joins Joseph Parkinson to explore the rise of the Russian oligarchs, Putin's transformation of Russia into a mafia state, and the failure of Western governments to contain the Kremlin.

In this episode of Ancient to Recent, we examine how the collapse of the Soviet Union created a new class of Russian billionaires, how Western governments helped facilitate their rise, and how Boris Yeltsin's controversial loans-for-shares deal laid the foundations for Russia's oligarchic system.

We explore the West's repeated miscalculations over Putin, from the optimism of the 1990s and George W. Bush's famous meeting with the Russian president to Obama's failed Russia reset. Why did Western governments repeatedly turn a blind eye to Russian aggression, corruption and authoritarianism?

We also examine the international sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Have they actually weakened Putin's war machine? How has Russia evaded sanctions through China, India and its shadow fleet of oil tankers? And could frozen Russian assets in Europe finally be used to help Ukraine?

Stephanie Baker is an award-winning journalist and the author of Punishing Putin, a detailed examination of the international effort to use financial sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. She previously reported for The Moscow Times and Radio Free Europe and is currently a journalist at Bloomberg.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction
00:48 The collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of the oligarchs
02:10 The loans-for-shares scandal
04:19 Why the West believed Russia would become a democracy
06:34 Putin's mafia state and the security services
07:11 The West turns a blind eye to Putin
09:23 The turning point: Putin's Munich speech
10:12 Why were Western sanctions against Russia so weak?
14:18 Bush, Obama and the failed Russia reset
18:09 How the West underestimated Putin
19:04 Russia invades Ukraine: the sanctions response
20:32 Freezing Russia's central bank reserves
22:45 Why won't Europe give frozen Russian assets to Ukraine?
26:14 Are Western sanctions actually working?
27:08 Russia's oil revenues and the shadow fleet
30:27 How Russia gets around Western technology sanctions
31:57 How China and India are helping Russia
33:41 Trump's approach to Russian sanctions
35:00 Could American businesses benefit from a rapprochement with Putin?
37:43 What happens if Democrats win the US midterms?
39:58 Russian interference in European elections
42:20 Does Putin pose a threat to NATO?
45:14 Could Russia deliberately provoke a NATO crisis?
45:58 What would it take to cripple Russia's war machine?
48:53 What could the West have done differently in the 1990s?

ABOUT ANCIENT TO RECENT

Ancient to Recent explores the history behind today's biggest political, historical and international events through conversations with leading historians, journalists, authors and experts.

Subscribe for more conversations about history, geopolitics, international relations and the forces shaping our world.

GUEST: Stephanie Baker
BOOK: Punishing Putin

#Russia #Putin #UkraineWar #Sanctions #Geopolitics