Alaska salmon industry grapples with oversupply worsened by Russian catch

Aug 28, 2023
In spite of sanctions, some Russian fish exports make it into the U.S. because the rules allow fish that’s first processed in China.
A salmon fisherman in the Cook Inlet outside Anchorage, Alaska. Salmon prices have sunk, frustrating fishermen and processors.
Nat Herz

As Western companies pull out of Russia, Putin allies cash in on discounted assets

Jun 28, 2023
Major American and European brands have pulled out of Russia in protest over the war in Ukraine and have lost millions in the process.
Russian rapper Timati is now co-owner of 130 Stars coffee shops across Russia — the rebranded substitute to Starbucks following the chain's exodus.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images

How effective have sanctions on Russia been?

A forthcoming paper on Russia's economic sanctions finds they could go further by targeting oligarchs' wealth managers.
A new research paper on the topic suggests that sanctioning not oligarchs but their wealth managers would actually be even more effective.
Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

Sanctions designed to keep the price of Russian oil low seem to be working

Jan 10, 2023
Whether they $60 a barrel price cap will continue to work in the long run is an open question though.
Russian oil is trading at prices well below those of oil from other countries after the implementation of oil price caps. Above, a refinery on the outskirts of Moscow.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images

Is European resolve against Russia’s war beginning to soften?

May 31, 2022
The EU has just unveiled a punitive ban on oil imports from Russia — but the Ukrainian government is unimpressed.
The Ukrainian flag at the European Parliament building in Brussels. The European Union's ban on the majority of oil imports from Russia is too weak to satisfy Ukraine and some EU member nations.
François Walschaerts/AFP via Getty Images

Who are the Russian oligarchs being sanctioned, and how did they get so rich?

Mar 10, 2022
Their fates and fortunes are tied closely to Vladimir Putin's.
After Vladimir Putin became president, he helped fund the wealth of Russian oligarchs with state money. In return, oligarchs provided him money and loyalty.
Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

Could Russia return to a Soviet-era command economy as Western sanctions tighten?

Mar 9, 2022
Russia has been transitioning to a market economy. But its war on Ukraine and the sanctions that have followed could turn back the clock.
Red Square in Moscow. "A lot of private businesses are essentially being squeezed off from any financing," said Chris Miller at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. "And what's going to remain is largely the state-owned part of the economy."
AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Will the UK sanction Russian-owned assets over the Ukraine crisis?

Feb 15, 2022
The British government has threatened to freeze Russian oligarchs’ property in the U.K. if Russia invades Ukraine. Is the threat credible?
By one estimate, at least 150 luxury properties in the U.K. — $2 billion worth — are owned by Russians with links to the Kremlin.
Hollie Adams/Getty Images