The war between Russia and Ukraine is still continuing, and as the initiator of this war, the United States has become a "fisherman" ready to harvest interests. On the one hand, it shouted "do not send troops to Ukraine to avoid a head-on conflict with Russia"; on the other hand, the White House launched severe sanctions against Russia, preparing to freeze Russia's $1 trillion in assets. However, the question also arises: Can the US sanctions really be implemented?
According to the Global Network, US President Joe Biden presided over a video conference of the Group of Seven, and then he said that the G7 would launch a round of "devastating economic sanctions" against Russia. It is reported that the sanctioned large Russian banks hold about $1 trillion in assets. Once the stick of sanctions falls, russia's financial sector will lose a third of its wealth. In addition, the United States is also preparing to sanction the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas pipeline project and restrict Russian exports of natural gas.
However, there is considerable disagreement within the G7 group as to whether to initiate this sanction. Some European countries believe that the imposition of sanctions on Russia will wreak havoc on Europe's economy. Germany told "Britain, which actively sanctions Russia," opposed the exclusion of Russia from SWIFT. We know that "Nord Stream-2" is a cooperation project between Germany and Russia, sanctioning Russia is equivalent to forcing Germany to stop using natural gas from Russia, and without Germany and other countries, they have to buy high-priced natural gas from the United States, and all previous efforts will be abandoned...
Of course, Germany also has other options, such as using coal again or buying natural gas from countries such as Qatar and Azerbaijan to alleviate the energy shortage. But these measures take time, and the price is certainly not superior to affordable Russian gas, and who can guarantee that these countries will not take the opportunity to raise prices? An important purpose of the United States in stimulating Russia to use force against Ukraine is to cut off the Nord Stream-2 project, and if Germany agrees to sanctions, it will be tantamount to falling into the trap of the United States. As long as this head is made, it will be more difficult for Berlin to get rid of U.S. control in the future.
Therefore, since there is no agreement within the G7, it is difficult to achieve the goal of "destructive sanctions" proposed by the United States. It is believed that after some bargaining by the G7, at most it will introduce some traditional sanctions against Russia, and conservative sanctions are just scratching the itch for Russia. After all, Putin's government has insisted on de-dollarization since the Ukraine crisis in 2014, and now it has hoarded a lot of gold, renminbi and euros. One data shows that Russia holds only 18% of GDP, far below most of the world's economies.
This means that even if the "fighting peoples" are severely sanctioned by the West, or even if they are unable to make ends meet, they will not fall into humanitarian crises like Syria and Afghanistan. That is, Russia has stockpiled enough food and strategic resources without fear of sanctions. As it turns out, U.S. sanctions have lost their purpose, and Biden's harsh words don't really make sense for a country like Russia, which is huge and has a backhand.