'More room' for sanctions against Russia, say experts

There is still "plenty of room" for punitive measures against Russia after "unprecedented" Western sanctions in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, experts told the British parliament Monday.

European countries and the United States unleashed sweeping sanctions aimed at isolating Russia from the global financial and trade system after the invasion began on February 24.

"We're in uncharted territory, using sanctions against a country that is so integrated with the West is unprecedented," said Tom Keatinge, director of the centre for financial crime and security studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.

And if the "freezing assets of the central bank obviously has had a massive impact", there is "plenty of room to ratchet up" the sanctions, especially around measures targeting Russian energy, Keatinge told the British parliament's Treasury Committee during a hearing. 

After coordinated sanctions targeting the Russian economy, a possible ban on hydrocarbons - the main source of income for the regime of President Vladimir Putin - is at the heart of discussions between Western countries.

"There are still banks that are untouched. We know that they're untouched because of the requirement for energy payments to continue to flow," Keatinge added.

"If the objective is to hit Russia's economy, it's the energy sector that you need to touch," said Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics.

But, he added, "there's a cost for the rest of the world", pointing to oil prices surging after the announcement of talks on the subject in the West.

"We have never used sanctions in this way against another G20 country," said Justine Walker, head of global sanctions and risk at the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists.

Walker said similar sanctions had only been used against countries such as Venezuela and North Korea.

She pointed to the risks posed by retaliatory measures taken by private actors, such as the decision by shipping giants to stop delivering to Russia, fearing possible sanctions or finding themselves violating the law.

"That then creates a very difficult scenario for the commodities that we wish to see traded," she said, such as grain.

Some sanctions taken as a precaution by many companies contributed to the price of raw materials reaching record highs since the Russian invasion, especially for wheat prices but also hydrocarbon and industrial metals.