Kommersant: Most Significant New Sanctions May Be Technological

"Neither the authorities, nor businesses, nor experts interviewed by Kommersant have any doubts that Vladimir Putin's decision on Donbass will lead to a sharp sanctions response from the West against Russia," writes Russian business broadsheet Kommersant in an op-ed. "The only question is whether the consequences will be 'harsh' or 'catastrophic'. The latter term usually pops up with regard to technological sanctions, around which there is the least clarity."

• "As a Kommersant source in the payment market notes, if a ban is introduced on the processing of transactions of Russian banks by American ones, money would continue to flow through banks in Europe, Asia, and Africa."
• "Traditionally, among the important threats to the financial system is the disconnection from SWIFT. However, a Kommersant source in the payment market assures that even if SWIFT is blocked, cross-border flows will not be blocked: 'SWIFT is not a payment system, it is a system for transmitting messages that such and such a payment has been sent by such and such a bank to such and such bank. As a result, transactions may be slower, but not completely stopped.'"
• "The new and most acute topic of the current crisis has become the so-called technological sanctions - possible restrictions on the supply of electronics, components, and software to the Russian Federation. According to a Kommersant source in the government, the worst option is the introduction of two-stage sanctions. In this case, the supply of both products from US companies (for example, Nvidia and Intel) and equipment manufactured using American technologies will be prohibited. There is nothing to replace them, Kommersant's interlocutor admits, you just have to 'look for new import channels.'"
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