Russian sanctions are more important following the attack. The world must hold firm.

President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the United States was implementing massive sanctions against Russia, in response to its invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday night Russian troops attacked. 

When announcing sanctions, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin committed "a flagrant violation of international law," and he signed an executive order to respond to Putin’s supposed recognition of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as "independent" states.

Earlier this month, I spoke with Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former Paste BN senior diplomatic reporter. We were talking about sanctions on Iran in the context of the ongoing nuclear deal negotiations between that country and the United States. But the same rules and examples of economic sanctions apply to Russia. 

In spite of Russia's attack, and, in fact, in light of it, sanctions are more important than ever. Here's why:

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When sanctions work 

Economic sanctions are restrictions imposed on a country that seek to block assets and trade restrictions to achieve foreign policy and national security objectives. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control enforces sanctions programs against countries and nonstate actors like terrorists and drug cartel members.

There isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to sanctions. They can be broad or specific. But there is one element critical to the success of any economic sanctions measure: international support. According to Slavin: "Sanctions only work when they are supported by most countries in the world and have specific and obtainable goals. For instance, sanctions on South Africa during apartheid – almost everyone supported them." 

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History would show that she's right. Back in 1986, the United States and leaders of more than 50 nations, including a reluctant Margaret Thatcher, levied economic sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa. The measures included a ban on air travel, investments and bank loans to South African companies. Agricultural imports to the country were banned, as well as the imports of coal, iron, steel and uranium. Countries also withdrew their diplomatic envoys from South Africa. 

Four years later, Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years behind bars. The country's minority-white government repealed the apartheid laws, leading to the removal of the U.S. sanctions and then to Mandela’s election as the first Black president of South Africa. 

When sanctions don't work

But sanctions don't always work. Take, for instance, Venezuela, Cuba and the sanctions in place against Iran. In our conversation in February, Slavin explained to me, "If you reimpose blanket economic sanctions unilaterally, as the U.S. has done, ordinary people suffer, but regime elites retain access to hard currency. Then you get Venezuela, Cuba and Iran. There is also smuggling." 

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The United States has had sanctions in place against Cuba for three decades, but it doesn't have much support. Last June, 184 countries voted in favor of a resolution to demand the end of the U.S. economic blockade on Cuba. Only America and Israel voted against the measure and three other countries abstained.

Analysis of Russia

In the case of Russia, there is broad international support for sanctions. The United States, the European Union, Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan announced plans to levy sanctions against banks and Russian oligarchs. Germany has put the breaks on a massive project that was set to bring gas from Russia to Germany. 

We knew before the pandemic that it is absolutely necessary to work together, in a multilateral way, for world peace. That is largely why the United Nations was founded. 

It is more critical now than ever to invest in our common well-being as a planet and as an international community, in order to prevent illegal conflict, human rights abuses, crimes against humanity and war crimes. 

Sanctions against Russia will work because there is broad support for them, but it won't happen overnight. In the meantime, we must continue to support humanitarian efforts for people in Russia and Ukraine, while holding firm on our position that any invasion of Ukraine is illegal under international law, and until Putin retracts his position, sanctions must not be removed. 

Carli Pierson is an attorney, former professor of human rights, writer and member of Paste BN's Editorial Board. You can follow her on Twitter: @CarliPiersonEsq