The harsh new sanctions imposed on Russia are intended to prevent Vladimir Putin from protecting his country's economy.
The latest sanctions targeting Russia's central bank appear aimed at preventing Putin from pulling back dollar reserves stored around the world, which could help insulate the economy from the other sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies, reported the Washington Post.
“No country is sanctions-proof,” said one senior administration official. “Fortress Russia will be exposed as a myth.”
Putin has set aside a “war chest” of $630 billion in reserves to stabilize the Russian economy, but cutting off the central bank could send the ruble plummeting even lower.
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“Our strategy, to put it simply, is to make sure the Russian economy goes backward as long as President Putin decides to go forward with his invasion,” said another Biden official.
Putin rose to power by stabilizing the Russian economy more than two decades ago, but the new actions are intended to further weaken the ruble and damage Putin's political defenses.
“The way he built his original base of support was by stabilizing Russia after the hyperinflation and wild currency crises that were endemic to Russia in the 1990s,” said Edward Fishman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and former State Department official. “What we’re seeing now is Putin’s side of the bargain in that social contract unravel entirely.”
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