Countries Are Hitting Russia With Sanctions Instead Of War & Here's What That Actually Means

Google searches for "World War III" took off after Russia invaded Ukraine last week, but with the risk of a fight turning into nuclear war, many countries have found other ways to punish the Russians for their attack.

Countries in Europe and NATO have refused to send troops into Ukraine, and instead they keep talking about one thing: sanctions.

But what are sanctions?

According to Dow Jones, sanctions are when a government punishes another government by imposing some sort of restriction. These restrictions can take the form of travel bans, taxes, import bans and even a freeze on a country's foreign assets, including its cash. Sanctions can also include punishment for companies that trade with that country.

Basically, sanctions are meant to put the squeeze on citizens in a target country, with the hope that those citizens will get upset and pressure their leaders to make changes.

Some sanctions can be serious and affect an entire population, while others can be targeted at specific people, such as Russia's powerful and politically connected billionaires, known as oligarchs.

Many of these tools are being used to punish Russia for its invasion, and we're already seeing the impact. The ruble, Russia's form of currency, has absolutely cratered since the invasion began, losing nearly 30% of its value, according to Business Insider.

According to Bloomberg, countries have frozen money in Russian banks, pulled Vodka from liquor shelves, created no-fly zones for Russia aircraft and even blocked boats believed to be owned by Russia.

When Russia first invaded, the United States imposed heavy sanctions on not just Russia, but also specific Russian officials.

"This coming week, we will launch a multilateral Transatlantic task force to identify, hunt down, and freeze the assets of sanctioned Russian companies and oligarchs – their yachts, their mansions, and any other ill-gotten gains that we can find and freeze under the law," said a tweet by the White House.

Currently, the U.S. is looking for Russian oligarchs to freeze their assets.

It's unclear when Russian President Vladimir Putin will halt his invasion, but some oligarchs are already complaining about it, CNBC reports. Bloomberg reports that Russia's richest people have lost about $83 billion so far this year.

That begs the question: How much more will they be OK with losing?