Sanctions may work with time — but right now, Ukraine is on its own

The adjectives flew fast and furious on Thursday as western allies — Canada included — described the latest round of sanctions aimed at Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Severe. Harsh. Punishing. Massive.

Each package was delivered with precision and conviction by every nation — despite the growing skepticism among foreign policy experts about their potential in the short-term to halt the bloody offensive that began overnight.

The question of how much Russia already has anticipated western sanctions and insulated itself from their effects is becoming a matter of active debate for those who've followed the conflict from the outset.

Even so, it was a day for tough talk.

"These sanctions are wide-reaching. They will impose severe costs on complicit Russian elites and they will limit President [Vladimir] Putin's ability to continue funding this unjustified invasion," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

The latest round of sanctions announced by Canada targets 62 individuals and organizations, including members of the Russian elite and their family members, major Russian banks and the country's national security council. Effective immediately, the federal government has stopped issuing export permits for Russia-bound products.

Belatedly, Canada has sanctioned the Wagner Group, a notorious Russian paramilitary organization which has been on the United States and European Union sanctions lists for years.

Washington also took aim at Russia's so-called "corrupt billionaires" and slapped export bans on technology to "severely" limit Moscow's ability to service its military and aerospace sector.

In Britain, Russian banks had their assets frozen, 100 individuals close to Putin were sanctioned and Aeroflot, Russia's national airline, was banned from entering the U.K.

The longstanding threat to bounce Russia from the SWIFT international payment system — referred to by some analysts as the "nuclear option" of sanctions — remains unfulfilled, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted that "nothing is off the table."

U.S. President Joe Biden said there was reluctance among European allies to invoke the SWIFT option and he also acknowledged that sanctions take time to be felt. He was asked about the effectiveness of the penalties. "Ask me again in a month," he replied.

Ukraine — which reported the deaths of 138 soldiers after the first day of fighting — might not have that long, said Matthew Schmidt, an associate professor and national security expert at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.

Since being sanctioned for the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has been adapting its economy and living with the penalties, even though they have dramatically lowered living standards in the country.