It’s Time To Impose 21st Century Sanctions On Russia
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine now a reality and operations under the leadership of a psychopath like Vladimir Putin, we need to consider a number of things. We are facing an unprecedented rupture of the international order, an ongoing war that could dictate the future of the world in many ways for many years.
As to be expected, technology is playing and will play a fundamental role as events unfold. Russia is a world leader in cyber-crime and is the source of most politically motivated cyberattacks and the vast majority of ransomware attacks, denial-of-service and other digital threats. Russia’s development of hybrid warfare is unmatched; the offensive against Ukraine began with massive cyberattacks on its government and banks.
The only response the West can make is to impose massive sanctions: Russia must be immediately expelled from the global interbank and financial communications system (SWIFT), Russian nationals’ visas must be suspended, all air traffic into and out of the country halted, along with online isolation, both at the level of technological components and connection infrastructures, as well as measures to exclude traffic from its domains and servers.
The isolation of Russia’s communication networks is essential, among other things, because the country has seen in the development of…
