Constraining Russia’s War Economy: Lessons from Lithuania

Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine caught many Western countries off-guard. But Lithuania and its Baltic neighbors have spent decades defending their democracies from the Kremlin’s malign influence—and have consistently sounded the alarm over Vladimir Putin’s revanchist designs.Alongside the aid from Estonia and Latvia, Lithuania’s military assistance to Ukraine proportionally far outstrips that of wealthier Western allies. Lithuania was also the first country to suspend Russian gas imports and to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.Please join Hudson Institute for a discussion with Gintarė Skaistė, the Lithuanian minister of finance, on the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy—and what more the democratic allies can do to strengthen their scope and enforcement in order to constrain Russia’s war economy and support Ukrainian victory.