REASONS FOR THE INTRODUCTION, EFFECTS AND ROLE OF MULTILATERAL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS IN A MULTIPOLAR WORLD

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to analyze international sanctions in the third decade of the 21st century. International sanctions are non-violent actions that individual states undertake against other states to force them to change certain foreign and domestic policy aspects that are considered unacceptable. Sanctions, introduced by one country, or an international organization are divided into unilateral and multilateral. Sanctions are usually divided into three forms: diplomatic (restriction or complete termination of diplomatic relations), economic (usually related to the prohibition of trade, usually related to weapons), and military sanctions. The aim of the paper is to analyze the current economic multilateral sanctions against the Russian Federation. The purpose of the introduction of sweeping sanctions is to try to overthrow the current government, which made it impossible to implement the policy that led to the introduction of the sanctions. Descriptive and comparative methods and scientific articles were used in the paper together with announcements by regulators, websites of relevant institutions, books, etc. Data on monthly oil and gas production, exports, inflows, and outflows of capital, mandatory financial reports of large companies, data on the monetary base of the central bank, data on direct foreign investments, and data on lending are observed. The paper shows that the general public is actually deprived of a large number of essential statistical data that was updated on a monthly basis until February 2022. Namely, one of the key reasons why there is doubt about the effectiveness of sanctions is that not enough relevant economic indicators are coming from Russia. Instead, optimistic Russian economic analyses, forecasts, and projections are transmitted. The work indicates that there are certain misconceptions among experts and the general public regarding sanctions. The conclusion is that certain sanctions, such as bans related to agricultural products and artificial fertilizers, have been relaxed. However, all sanctions are introduced to hurt the country and lead to regime change. The paper raises numerous questions arising from the fact that there is great uncertainty that has led to a slowdown in economic activity at the global level.