-We will limit Russia's ability to do business
in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen.
-The sanctions against the Central Bank of Russia,
which were enacted on Monday morning,
are probably the single largest sanctions actioned
in modern history.
The Central Bank of Russia has about $630 billion of assets,
and at the stroke of a pen, the United States, Europe,
and other G7 allies immobilized those assets.
They made them impossible, really,
for the Russian government to deploy them
to stabilize the ruble.
So sanctions have escalated dramatically
in just about eight days,
and the consequences on Russia's economy
are already quite stunning.
-I am scared that the government will expropriate all the money
or the bank will get frozen. I don't know.
-You know, the ruble has really collapsed.
We've also seen, really,
manifestations at the micro level --
the beginnings of bank runs, financial panic,
ATM lines around the street,
Russians really seeking to do whatever they possibly can
to get their hands on foreign currency
and banks really running out of that currency.
The writing, I think, is on the wall.
I think this is going to be
a mammoth financial crisis in Russia,
really only paralleled by the financial crisis in the '90s
that brought Putin to power originally.
-Such sanctions, look, that collective West.
In general, the US is an apologist for such sanctions.
They are fans of sanctions.
-The one weapon that Russia potentially could wield
that would have an effect on global markets in the West
would be to cut off oil and gas sales.
So that is definitely something
that we should be looking out for.
The thing I would say, though,
is that cutting off oil and gas sales would be just as bad,
if not worse, for Russia than it would be for the West.
These sanctions are not just affecting the man in the street.
They're affecting everyone.
When you are living in Russia and your currency is tanking,
no matter who you are,
you're going to be affected by these sanctions.
So I think one vector of pressure
is through elites who have access to Putin.
Another is, frankly, through Russian society.
We're already seeing significant protests in Russia.
There's good evidence that this war is very unpopular in Russia,
and I think it will only continue to grow in unpopularity
as Russians are hurting in their wallets.