Defense & Intelligence Policy, Business and Technology

Did Western Sanctions Actually Help the Russian Military?

Foreign Policy: In the wake of sanctions slapped on Moscow after its 2014 annexation of Crimea, the Kremlin faced some hard choices. The economic sanctions placed the country’s military modernization program in jeopardy, cutting Russia off from high-end European-made military sensors, software, ship engines, and other gear that were critical to dragging the once-moribund Russian war machine from its rusting post-Soviet morass.

But according to some defense officials and experts on the Russian way of war, even with the potential for sanctions relief under the new administration of President Donald Trump, Moscow has managed to come up with some creative — and likely permanent — workarounds that might make the Kremlin’s military more adaptable in the long run, and has made Moscow some money in the process.

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