On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in an attempt to install a puppet government and stop the process of Ukraine being accepted into NATO or other supranational organizations (such as the European Union). Since Ukraine was not technically part of these organizations, countries have to be careful in the ways that they support Ukraine to avoid breaking International Law.
The most major of this support had been through the economic sanctions imposed on Russia. Sanctions are penalties countries can impose on each other to stop them from acting aggressively because they are seen as the harshest way to punish a country. Much of Europe and the United States had put many sanctions on Russia in an attempt to punish and persuade them to stop their actions. These sanctions imposed large taxes on imports and exports, such as cars, oils and gas. Many multi-billionaires in Russia were also targeted to turn them against their own country. Travel bans were imposed on Russian citizens and transportation. However, the largest sanctions on Russia were the financial sanctions limiting their central banks. This prevented Russians from transferring money into accounts, effectively freezing their accounts. These sanctions devalued the Russian ruble and plunged the country’s citizens into near-poverty. This caused a massive uproar in Russia as people became restricted in the opportunities and products they could use.
In response to the sanctions, Russia banned many exports from the country, most notably oil and natural gas, causing prices to increase dramatically. Russia also tried to stop its economy from collapsing further by limiting purchases and increasing interest rates to combat the decline in the value of the ruble.
These sanctions could be disastrous towards the future of global trade. Democratic countries’ relationships with Russia could be permanently damaged. This could mean one of two things; either Russia will be excluded and cut off from global innovation and trade, or they could be conquered and the relationships will slowly be rebuilt. We currently do not know what will come out of the sanctions or the war in a long-term sense, but it will be an event that will be in the history books.