International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Nov. 8 offering a way for Russian investors to "swap" their frozen assets abroad with the frozen assets of foreign companies in Russia.

Since the conflict in Ukraine, Western countries have introduced a barrage of sanctions against Moscow, blocking its banks from making international payments and freezing Russian assets abroad.

"The European Commission has been notified of the recently taken measure by Bulgaria regarding gas supplies.

After Russia's withdrawal from the agreement to export grain and fertilizers from Ukrainian and Russian ports on the Black Sea, prices have begun to rise again, Moscow has declared ships sailing to and from Ukraine are enemy vessels (they were already hard to insure), and the Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the humanitarian fallout from the Russian decision.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia wishes to "talk to the Russians" about the Oil Industry of Serbia, NIS, which is majority-owned by two Russian energy companies, and if need be "take over", while EU sanctions against Russian oil companies are in force.

In his video address, Zelensky recalled that the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had invited the Canadian representative because of what he considered to be an absolutely unacceptable exclusion from the sanctions regime against Russia, reports Interfax Ukraine.

Germany said on July 8 it hopes to convince Canada to deliver a turbine needed to maintain the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, with Russia waiting on the machine's arrival before increasing supplies.

Experts estimate that this leads to only one conclusion, and that is that Moscow is preparing for a protracted war for the control of Ukraine.

Hurt by sanctions over the war in Ukraine, many Russian IT professionals and firms - big and small - have relocated to Montenegro, taking advantage of visa-free entry and proximity to the wider European market.

The Commerce Department said the targeted companies had supplied items to Russian “entities of concern” before the February 24 invasion

At his garage in the south of Moscow, 35-year-old mechanic Ivan is starting to worry.    

With billions of dollars in financial reserves and money still coming in from oil and gas exports, Russia has yet to feel the full impact of the barrage of Western sanctions imposed over its offensive in Ukraine.    

But Ivan sees storm clouds on the horizon.