EU Sanctions against Russia: A Punishment, a Signal of Displeasure or a Wild-Goose Chase

Abstract

The decision of the European Union (EU) to maintain sanctions against Russia has raised concerns among scholars and pundits on the actual reasons for the sanctions. In mid 2014, the EU introduced series of sanctions against Russia, shortly after the latter annexed Crimea through a referendum considered to be illegitimate by the EU and many other Western countries. The EU considers the annexation of Crimea by Russia as an illegal intrusion into Ukraine’s sovereignty and therefore, Russia must be punished for its action, thus favoring the use of sanctions. However, instead of the impact of the sanctions restricted to Russia alone, they also have serious adverse impact on the EU’s economy. Thus, it raises questions about their purpose. What is the purpose and objective of the EU sanctions against Russia? Sanctions in general are meant to fulfill four main purposes: cohesion, punishment, signal and symbolism. The EU sanctions against Russia however, seem not to clearly fulfill any of these identified purposes. Instead, sanctions have created a hostile relationship between the EU and Russia with a consequent odious impact on the economies of both parties. Worrisomely, it is the ordinary citizens that bear the brunt of the sanctions. Apparently, sanctions have failed to produce positive result in terms of addressing the casual factors that led to its adoption, which includes ending the alleged Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and restoring peace and stability in the country. In light of the above, the study suggests that the adoption of sanctions by the EU and countersanctions by Russia not being the appropriate way to deal with the conflict and other sundry issues in Ukraine. It therefore, advocate for the engagement of selfless diplomacy as the appropriate and lasting solution to the Ukraine-EU-Russia impasse.

Keywords: European Union, Russia, Sanctions, Countersanctions, Economic Impact, Diplomacy.