An international economic expert said Russia's oligarchs were screwed under the harsh sanctions imposed over Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Heidi Crebo-Rediker, an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former chief economist for the Department of State, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" the punishing sanctions were already putting pressure on Putin and his inner circle.
"The central bank sanctions that were put on are having an immediate effect in terms of the central bank's ability to manage the ruble crash," Crebo-Rediker said. "The export controls are a long, slow burn, so the extent that we can reach the ability of Russia to not be able to develop its industrial base moving forward, it's critical that these work in tandem and that we have huge multilateral support for both of those actions. In terms of the energy sanctions, I think this is a fast-moving situation. Things that were unthinkable several days ago are on the table and done."
"This is happened at a breathtaking speed," Crebo-Rediker added. "I don't know where this is going to go. We do have to bear in mind that Europe is taking this harder. There will be tens and tens of billions of dollars that they will take as a hit, and so we do have to have them on board. We have to make sure that their interests and our interests are protected in this. I think absolutely to the extent that we can isolate and close off any ability of Russia to develop economically is going to be critical."
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The sanctions are squarely aimed at Russian oligarchs who help keep Putin in power, and Crebo-Rediker believes they're going to suffer.
"Going after the oligarchs? I think they are absolutely hosed," she said. "The travel bans, seizing of assets. Anyone who knows Russia knows they are masterful at hiding their assets. We have as part of our agreement with the G-7, we'll have a concerted effort going after those assets, track them down, and figure out who owns them and figure out where they are and seize them."
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