In Light of Russia Sanctions, Consider Your Conditions for Doing Business in Other Countries

by John E. Katsos, Jason Miklian and John J. Forrer

March 15, 2022, Updated March 15, 2022

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Summary.

Within one week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, governments around the world passed some of the toughest and most coordinated sanctions in modern history. At breakneck speed, dealings with the Russian Central Bank and Russian travel to and through 33 countries’ airspace were banned, billion dollar projects were stopped, many Russian banks were blocked from using SWIFT, and powerful members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle were individually sanctioned.

John E. Katsos is an associate professor of business law, business ethics, and social responsibility at the American University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, and a research affiliate at Queen’s University Belfast. As a scholar, he has published dozens of academic and media articles, as well as reports for boards and international organizations. He has done fieldwork in Iraq, Lebanon, Cyprus, Syria, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong and is considered one of the world’s leading researchers on business in crisis zones. As an educator, Katsos teaches undergraduate, graduate, and executive students in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa how to manage more ethical and sustainable organizations for a better world.

Jason Miklian is a senior researcher at the Centre for Development and the Environment, at the University of Oslo. He has published extensively on the topic of business and peace, including award-winning articles based on fieldwork in Bangladesh, Colombia, India, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Considered a top global expert in the field of business, peacebuilding, and crisis, he sits on numerous boards and high-level expert panels. Miklian has also written for or been cited in an expert capacity by the New York Times, the BBC, Foreign Policy, The Economist, and other news organizations, and he is a coauthor (with Scott Carney) of The Vortex: A True Story of History’s Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation (HarperCollins, forthcoming).

John J. Forrer is the director of the Institute for Corporate Responsibility (ICR) at the George Washington University School of Business (GWSB). He is also an associate research professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy at GWSB and an associate faculty member at the School of Public Policy and Public Administration.