(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- The economic sanctions the United States has placed on Russia are working, making it very hard for the country to replenish weapons that its military desperately needs.
During a briefing on the battleground earlier this week, a senior Department of Defense official said the military forces led by Russian President Vladimir Putin have expended “quite a bit” of the armament and weapons that they have. That includes a large amount of munitions that are precision guided.
The official also said that the DOD has reason to believe the sanctions were “having a bite” on the country’s ability to replenish their inventory of these things and re-stock their military bases, specifically in regard to the precision-guided weapons.
As the official explained:
“We know that the sanctions are responsible for making it harder for Mr. Putin to replenish those stocks.”
Many of America’s allies have followed suit in placing economic sanctions on Russia after they invaded neighboring Ukraine back on February 24. Those measures have damaged Russia’s economy significantly already. In fact, a CNBC report from mid-March said the sanctions could end up setting back Russia’s economy by as much as 30 years.
Sean Spoonts, who serves as the editor-in-chief of SOFREP, a military news outlet, Russia is currently spending about $900 million each day on its war with Ukraine. That’s a heavy price it’s paying.
In addition, the war has forced other countries to seek energy supplies elsewhere, making them much less reliant on natural gas exports that used to come from Russia. That could have huge long-lasting effects, if those countries never go back to importing the major resource from Putin’s country.
The Russian military has suffered some costly defeats during the war as well. Forbes Ukraine, for instance, estimated that the sinking of the Russian ship Moskva in the Black Sea cost the country about $750 million.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence further said its war with Ukraine will cause some of the most elite military units in Russia to be weakened for years to come.
Many military pundits believed that Russia had military superiority over Ukraine, which would lead to a rather quick victory for the Communist country. That hasn’t happened at all, though, as the war approaches the three-month mark.
The Russian military failed to grasp control of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and has struggled to make sustained progress in some of the country’s other major cities. A big reason for this has been the “stiff Ukrainian resistance” Russia’s military has faced, John Kirby, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said during a briefing last week.
In addition to the economic sanctions, Russia has been unable to get some of the parts it needs to restock the military. Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces posted on Facebook back on March 21 that manufacturing of armored vehicles and tanks for Russia was stopped “due to the lack of receipts of foreign-made components.”
All of this adds up to both short- and long-term implications for Russia.
