DMGS – Kennan Institute Distinguished Speakers Series: The Impact of Sanctions on Russia’s Elites

On February 4th, 2019 at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, another installment of the DMGS – Kennan Institute Distinguished Speakers Series took place.  Dr. Nigel Gould-Davies, former British Foreign Service Officer, currently an Associate Fellow of Chatham House and professor at Mahidol University in Thailand and Dr. Daniel P. Ahn, a senior consulting economist for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, formerly Chief Economist at the State Department, delved into the complexities of the US sanctions that have been imposed on Russia’s elites.  Russia’s upper-class have for decades sought the protections afforded by Western legal and financial systems, for their assets, their persons and their families.  Sanctions have eroded these critical protections, altering the Russian political economy and the elite’s relationship to Russia’s president and the system over which he presides.  Dr. Gould – Davies and Dr. Ahn discussed how the response to sanctions will shape Russia’s future.