Could U.S. Sanctions Finally Cripple Russia’s War Economy?

The war economy that has fueled Russia’s all-out assault on Ukraine for 45 months has been funded by Moscow’s exports of oil and gas and, critics say, the West’s unwillingness — as well as China and India’s disinterest — to fully turn off the spigot. Now the United States — along with the European Union and Britain — has taken aim at some of Russia’s biggest oil and gas companies, and their sprawling networks of subsidiaries and affiliates. The US Treasury Department announced on October 22 that it was sanctioning state-controlled…