Podcast

Will Sanctions Go Nuclear?

Alexandra Vacroux
Alexandra Vacroux
An electronic scoreboard with information about the exchange rate is seen at a currency exchange office in Moscow, Russia.

The Russian central bank said on January 24 it was suspending purchases of foreign currency after the stock market and ruble tumbled over fears Russia may attack Ukraine. 

Sputnik via AP/ Maksim Blinov

Executive Director Alexandra Vacroux spoke with The Indicator from Planet Money about what a total ban from the SWIFT bank messaging system would mean for Russia’s economy.

As tensions rise along the Russian-Ukrainian border, the threat of economic sanctions looms large as the United States and its allies seek to deter a Russian invasion through nonmilitary means. 

What's in play right now is more extreme sanctions and the use of the so-called nuclear option, which would be cutting Russia off of the SWIFT messaging system.

Alexandra Vacroux

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This episode was published by NPR on January 20, 2022: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073944103/how-a-bank-messaging-system-could-decimate-russia

Alexandra Vacroux

Alexandra Vacroux

Executive Director

Alexandra Vacroux is executive director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.
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