Sanctions by the Numbers: Spotlight on Russia

The U.S. Congress passed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in 2017, in part to further increase sanctions coverage on Russia and to ensure that the Trump administration did not scale back existing sanctions without congressional approval. However, Russia-related CAATSA sanctions have been limited to just 19 designations through the end of 2020, suggesting a lack of full utilization.

Russia-related Sanctions Outside of Russia

Furthermore, after the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Congress expressed serious concerns about this threat, including introducing legislation to compel sanctions on Russia for election interference, Trump issued Executive Order 13848. This federal directive authorized sanctions on foreign entities responsible for election interference in the United States. To date, 13 designations have been made under this authority or others to address election interference, as it remains a serious concern in future U.S. elections.

Methodology

The following sanctions programs were included for calculating Russia sanctions totals:

MAGNIT, UKRAINE-EO13660, UKRAINE-EO13661, UKRAINE-EO13662, UKRAINE-EO13685, and CAATSA – RUSSIA. SDGT, TCO, IFSR, SYRIA, IRAN-EO13622, GLOMAG, CYBER2, ELECTION-EO13848, DPRK2, DPRK3, DPRK4, NPWMD, and VENEZUELA-EO13850 sanctions were only included when the designee either originated in or is closely affiliated with Russia.

The following sanctions programs were included for calculating Ukraine sanctions totals: UKRAINE-EO13660, UKRAINE-EO13661, UKRAINE-EO13662, and UKRAINE-EO13685. CYBER2, ELECTION-EO13848, and SYRIA sanctions were included when the designee is a Ukrainian entity or is closely affiliated with Ukraine.

This is the sixth installment in the Sanctions by the Numbers series. Click here to read the first installment on U.S. sanctions designations and delistings by Johnpatrick Imperiale, here to read the second installment on global distribution of U.S. sanctions by Abigail Eineman, here to read the third installment on Iran sanctions by Abigail Eineman, here to read the fourth installment on China sanctions by Francis Shin, and here to read the fifth installment reviewing 2020 sanctions designations by Sam Dorshimer and Francis Shin.

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The CNAS Sanctions by the Numbers series offers comprehensive analysis and graphical visualization of major patterns, changes, and developments in U.S. sanctions policy and economic statecraft. Members of the CNAS Energy, Economics, and Security Program collect and analyze data from publicly available government sources, such as the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.