US could tighten sanctions against Russia even more, experts say
Even with a series of harsh measures already taken on Russia, including a ban on Russian imports, the sanctioning of Russia’s central bank and the enactment of export controls, the U.S. could enact even tighter sanctions, several experts told ABC News.
The U.S. could push other countries to make commitments to decrease their reliance on Russian energy -- which it and the U.K. are already beginning to do -- and to increase their own production of oil and gas to lower the high energy prices Americans and Europeans are starting to face — and it could also get Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and others to increase their exports.
![](https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/moscow-bank-rate-hike-ks_hpEmbed_20220228-064042_3x2_992.jpg)
Other current sanctions the U.S. could tighten include imposing "full-blocking" sanctions, the harshest possible financial sanctions, on Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank. The U.S. has already done this for several other banks but has only put limited restrictions on Sberbank in order to limit the impact on the ordinary Russians who use the bank.
The U.S. could also put additional secondary sanctions on banks, put more restrictions on Russian goods, keep pursuing oligarchs and other Russian elites and sanction other Russian sectors such as minerals, chemicals, and coal.
The sanctions the West has already imposed have devastated the Russian economy at a rapid clip. They will continue to compound and inflict more pain on the Russian economy as they continue to play out, the experts said.
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson