https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_Act
I wouldn’t be surprised if future historians point to this thorn in putin’s side as one of the main reasons for pissing him off enough to start a war.
We have the technology to put a ton of pressure on the powerful elite trying to flex their way out of bearing responsibility for ruin they caused.
Not if they've made peace with giving up on jet-setting and simply being kings in their own country:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/us/politics/russia-biden-...
> And perhaps most notably, Mr. Putin and his closest aides and partners in Moscow might not suffer much themselves from sanctions, analysts say....
> Some of the hard-line nationalist men around Mr. Putin were already on a Treasury Department sanctions list and accept that they and their families will no longer have substantial ties to the United States or Europe for the rest of their lives, said Alexander Gabuev, the chair of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
> “They are the powerful everybodies in today’s Russia,” he said. “There is a lot of posh richness. They’re totally secluded. They’re the kings, and that can be secured in Russia only.”
> Furthermore, because of their roles in state-owned enterprises and their business ties, they are “the very guys who are directly benefiting from the economy becoming more insulated, more detached from the outside world,” he added.
Thankfully people die eventually.
This is probably a great opportunity for Russian and Chinese tech companies to gain market share as western companies are banned from operating in Russia.
edit: after thinking about it, the above seems like punishing the Russian people more than the Russian government which shouldn't be done IMO
It's not like government or military leaders are the ones that can't get basic medical supplies or food in a sanctioned country.