Sanctions against Russia are undoubtedly having a negative effect on the Russian economy and on the political climate in the country. But they are also negatively affecting both the U.S. and the EU economies which — particularly the latter — are only now showing some signs of improvement.
Among those affected are those individuals and companies in the United States, which are barred from doing business in Russia, particularly with members of President Vladimir Putin's closest circle of friends and associates.
According to Kimberly Marten, a professor at Barnard College, Columbia University in New York, by exerting pressure on Putin's friends and associates, the West hopes that it will convince Putin to change his course of action. But that thinking ignores an important element in the relationship between Putin and his friends: the pact of KGB loyalty, writes Marten.