Publication

Following the imposition of sanctions against Russia in response to its 2014 annexation of Crimea and its subsequent military intervention in Eastern Ukraine, some EU member states have claimed that they have been particularly hard hit because exports to Russia are important to their economies. This commentary shows, however, that the economic cost in terms of lost exports, and thus potentially jobs, has in reality been negligible. The authors conclude that the sanctions are therefore more a political signal than an important economic weapon.