How demand for petroleum is helping Russia evade sanctions

The country controls a great and valuable resource that the world can’t do without

Written By:

Owen Matthews

Economic sanctions were meant to be the West’s secret weapon against Russia, a way of crippling Vladimir Putin’s war machine and bringing his invasion of Ukraine to a halt without NATO firing a shot. Instead, Russia’s economy and military remain in rude health. After recent heavy attacks north of Kharkiv, Putin’s troops have seized more than thirty-eight square miles of territory and stretched Kyiv’s already thinly deployed defenses as they grind forward in Donbas. Putin has demoted his long-serving defense minister Sergei Shoigu, replacing him with the little-known economist Andrei Belousov. Appointing a finance specialist…