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May 16th, 2025 | 10:21 PM ET

How Russia’s War Machine Keeps Raking In Money

The Kremlin has found multiple workarounds to a raft of Western sanctions.

DEEP DIVE
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends the plenary session of the VII International Forum “Russia’s Energy Week” in Moscow on September 26, 2024. (Photo by ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
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Posted: October 15th, 2024

By Hollie McKay

Hollie McKay is a writer, war crimes investigator, and the author of “Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield.” (Jocko Publishing/Di Angelo Publications 2021). She was an investigative and international affairs/war correspondent for Fox News Digital for over fourteen years, where she focused on war, terrorism, and crimes against humanity.

DEEP DIVE — More than two and a half years after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s economy shows surprising resilience. Despite an unprecedented 2,000 sanctions targeting its corporations, financial institutions and elites, the nation’s factories still churn, its oil sales boom, and Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains a firm grip on power.

Why haven’t all the international penalties delivered the intended crippling blow? The answer lies in a complex interplay of geopolitics and the technicalities of enforcing sanctions on a resource-rich nation.

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Categorized as:Europe Reporting RussiaTagged with:

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