Today, international oil prices are again fluctuating, and Europe and the United States joined forces to throw new sanctions, directing the Russian energy lifeline.
Since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has started, the West has played its sanctions tricks with perfection, and it is stuck in all aspects, from finance to energy. Russia has been carrying it for more than three years. Although the economic data has not collapsed, the growth rate has slowed down significantly, and the pressure on people's livelihood is great.
Western sanctions on Russia the toughest in history
Since the day the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out on February 24, 2022, Western sanctions have poured in like a tide, round after round, and the scale has become larger and larger. By October 2025, the cumulative number of sanctions has exceeded 30,000, with the United States accounting for the highest proportion, followed closely by the European Union.
At first, the sanctions were mainly aimed at the financial sector. Many large Russian banks were kicked out of the SWIFT system, foreign trade settlement was stuck, and the ruble exchange rate once fell to 1:130. Then, the London and New York Stock Exchanges directly delisted Russian company stocks, and Swiss banks also froze Russian assets for the first time, and tens of billions of overseas funds evaporated in an instant.
Energy is Russia's weakness, and the West is the most ruthless. In March 2022, the United States and the United Kingdom took the lead in embarking on Russian energy. Although the EU delayed it until the end of the year to catch up, starting from 2023, the oil price cap will be set at US$60 per barrel, and will be pressed to US$47.6 in 2025.
Natural gas exports are even worse. Europe was originally the largest buyer, but now most of the pipelines are closed, and liquefied natural gas will be banned in the EU from 2027. The latest round, the 19th round of EU sanctions came into effect on October 22, adding 117 blacklists of entities and ships, bringing a total of 558 shadow tankers. Russia's two major oil giants, Rosneft and Lukoil, were directly named by the U.S. Treasury Department, and all 44 subsidiaries were shot.
The fields of technology and industry are also busy. Chip supply outages have started in the spring of 2022. TSMC, Intel, and AMD have all been suspended from Russia, and equipment exports from South Korea and Japan have also been restricted. Automobile brands such as BMW, Audi, and Ford have suspended business in Russia, Boeing simply does not sell aircraft parts, and maintenance in the Russian aviation industry has become a problem.
In 2024, the EU also banned the transfer of Russian drone parts, military-industrial production was forced to turn around, converted to civilian goods. On cultural propaganda, Twitter, Facebook, Russian accounts, European Song Contest kicked out Russian representatives, and the television company stopped broadcasting Russian films.
Overall, the sanctions net is woven tightly, from high-end finance to the people's cell phone household appliances, covering the entire. Russia although claimed to form "immunity", but foreign exchange reserves are stable at more than 600 billion, the actual trade surplus has shrunk, oil and gas revenue in September fell by 23%.
In September 2025, the United States vowed to impose a 100% tariff on countries that buy Chinese and Russian oil, the 19th round of the EU also listed 12 Chinese and Port companies, and the Ministry of Commerce immediately expressed strong opposition.
Russia has suffered from sanctions since the Crimea incident in 2014, but this time the scale has doubled and lasted for more than three years, and economic integration has not stopped the escalation of the conflict.
International Monetary Fund data show that Russia’s GDP grew by 3.6 percent in 2023 and more than 4 percent in 2024, but it is expected to drop to 0.9 percent in 2025, with high interest rates and inflation starting to bite.
The West is betting on dragging down the endurance of its opponents.
Sanctions hit Russia's economy and people's livelihood hard
After the sanctions were implemented, the Russian economy seemed to have been tightened. The surface was tough, but the lining was slowly wearing out. Energy exports are the lifeblood, accounting for nearly 40% of GDP. As soon as the embargo comes out in 2022, income will plummet. The EU's price limit order forced Russia to sell at a low price. In 2025, the crude oil ceiling will be lowered again. The operating rate of refineries will decline, and the surrounding industrial chains will suffer.
The oil and chemical industry, transportation warehouses reduced production, unemployment rate from 3% in 2023 to about 5% in 2025.Siberian gas fields are vacant, Europe's winter has no gas, Russia has also lost stable buyers, and the shift to the Asian market has grown, but shipping fees and discounts eat a lot of profits.
After the collapse of the stock market, the ruble rebounded, but the inflation rate was stable at more than 8%. In the first half of 2025, the central bank raised interest rates to 16%, and the price of stable commodities suppressed investment. Bread and milk eggs, these people's goods, the price doubled, and the shortage of imports could not compensate for financial means. Food although self-sufficient, but processing equipment is dependent on imports, the cost is high.
Sanctions have not caused the economy to collapse, but like chronic diseases, bite backward, people's livelihoods days go on and on.
Russia has proved with practical actions that a major country cannot put all its eggs in one basket. Although Western sanctions fell short of expectations, they have caused Russia to turn from a high-speed lane to a slow-moving lane.
The Russian incident has brought profound lessons to China
In the international game, the sanctions are to take the double-edged sword, be prepared early. China over the years, steadily and steadfastly fighting, building up the entire industrial chain high wall, is to climb up from these lessons. The United Nations 41 major industrial categories, China's full coverage, from screws to large aircraft, self-sufficiency rate is up to ninety percent.
China has long had a vision for energy security. We have diversified layout, signed long-term contracts with the Middle East and Latin America, and achieved stable imports. Wind power, photovoltaic and nuclear energy go hand in hand. In 2025, the installed capacity of new energy will exceed 1.4 billion kilowatts, and UHV lines will be exported to the world. If sanctions come and the maintenance of these countries is cut off, who will complain first?
Russia has spent more than three years telling us that there is no eternal backer, only self-improvement.