Q. Should there be humanitarian exceptions to the sanctions?

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

I believe the West should announce clear humanitarian exceptions to the sanctions. As it is, regular Russian people are being forced into near starvation, homelessness and poverty due to a government which has lied to them, imprisoned those who dared to dissent, and brutally suppresses all opposition.

Biden should come out and publicly announce that sanctions are targeted at those who have caused this humanitarian tragedy; Putin & Co., and that the American people and the Western world want nothing more than mutual understanding, peace and increasing cooperation with people all around the world, including Russians. Expose Putin for the egotistical maniac he is, play the long-game and win the hearts and minds of the next generation of Russians who will lead a fundamentally different country.

[GeneralMacArthur]

If the people of Russia want to end the sanctions, they must overthrow their government and remove Putin from power.  Although Russia is a powerful authoritarian state, no state can survive a truly massive popular uprising.

Those who say the Russian people do not want this war, or that sanctions are punishing the innocents for the actions of Putin, are kidding themselves.  The people may oppose this war, but not enough to overthrow Putin.  And it's possible that without the sanctions, they would not oppose the war at all, as there are many who only oppose it because of the imposed cost.

Russia must be punished as severely as possible.  Russia the state is composed of its people.  Putin's power comes only from his control over Russia the state.  The soldiers must refuse to fight.  The people must refuse to work.  Until they take to the streets to demand an end to the regime, the sanctions must continue.

[Ferguson97]

No, that kind of defeats the purpose of sanctions.

[2952-0-0]

There's a big difference with previous sanctions: Russia is a huge exporter of grain, especially to the Middle East and Africa. If the sanctions disrupt this flow of grain, then there's a real risk of mass starvation among people who can least afford it. There will have to be carve-outs to explicitly exempt Russian grain exporters for this reason. Yes, this trade will inevitably be used to launder ill-gotten flows of money, but it's an acceptable price to pay to prevent mass starvation in the third world.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Russia is a breadbasket. If its people starve, it won’t be because of sanctions on international trade.

They could bite when it comes to a select few other essentials, but I doubt it unless the sanctions become significantly wider and deeper. A 1998-style recession is forecast for a country significantly richer than it was in 1998.

Poorer countries with starving people obviously won’t impose sanctions on Russian grain. Outside of the West, plenty of countries are imposing minimal or no sanctions - this isn’t a North Korea- (or even Iran-)type situation.

[Hammy]

I want to say yes, in the sense that there are a lot of "should"s that would be nice, but I don't see how it's realistically possible.

[CumbrianLefty]

Yeah, easier said than done at the end of the day.

[Meclazine for Israel]

It's hard to beat General MacArthur's argument on this one.

He has phrased that very well, and in the circumstance, it needs to be on Russia as a whole.

[lfromnj]

I mean if you want to punish the whole people we need to find a way to block CSGO/Dota 2.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

Speaking of grain, Ukraine is also a breadbasket and their farmers aren’t exactly farming right now. I’d keep an eye out on the Middle East and Africa for more instability.

[2952-0-0]

Poorer countries with starving people obviously won’t impose sanctions on Russian grain. Outside of the West, plenty of countries are imposing minimal or no sanctions - this isn’t a North Korea- (or even Iran-)type situation.

Of course, they won't. The problem comes when banks are reluctant to issue the letters of credit that are required to facilitate transactions from Russia to the export destinations. They're afraid that any business they do involving Russia will lead to three letter agencies causing trouble for them years later, so they would simply refuse to do any Russia-related business, even for urgent humanitarian ones. The US government will have to provide concrete assurances to the banks that they can finance such transactions without fear of sanctions.