Sanctions had almost no effect on most Russians. But there is something the US Treasury can do to create real political pressure on Vladimir Putin's regime.. This is the immediate cessation of circulation of all $100 banknotes in Russia..

Markos Kounalakis, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, writes about this in an article for the Wall Street Journal.. He notes that Russians do not invest in pension funds.. Instead, both the wealthy and ordinary citizens of Russia are trying to protect their savings by buying US dollars.. The instability of the ruble contrasts strongly with the stability and security of the US currency. And for many years, Russians preferred $100 bills the most.. As of 2019, there were 300 kilograms of such banknotes in Russia, hidden in mattresses and other household hiding places.. That's roughly $31.5 billion.

Currency problems have always caused panic in Russia. In 1996, Washington's decision to redesign the $100 bill to make it harder to counterfeit scared the Russians.. They were afraid that their savings would suddenly turn into paper. People began to refuse to accept old banknotes. In those days, Russians had more dollars in their hands than any other currency.. And most of those green banknotes had a denomination of 100. Then, in the 90s, the US Treasury did not say anything about the recall of old-style dollars. But many Russian banks refused to accept them or demanded an additional commission for the exchange.

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The author notes that the sanctions failed to force Putin to abandon his military goals.. And partly this happened because the well-being of the majority of Russians did not suffer from them in any way.. At the same time, the rapid cancellation of all hundred dollar bills will create real dissatisfaction among the Russian population with the war against Ukraine.. Given the current state of Russian banks, they cannot easily and quickly convert these dollars into something else.. Savings of Russians will sharply turn into ordinary pieces of paper. Then Putin will no longer be able to hide the consequences of the war from those on whose support he relies..

President Joe Biden should make it clear that all $100 bills will be canceled precisely because a Russian autocrat started a war against Ukraine.. After that, Putin can twist the truth and invent whatever he wants.. But the Russians will still know that it was precisely because of his behavior that all their savings suddenly disappeared.. In fact, it would even be nice to cancel all $100 banknotes in the world.. After all, 80% of them are in pockets abroad. Easy-to-transport cash is an important tool for global corruption and crime, says former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

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Large bills such as $100 are used by terrorist groups and drug traffickers to organize their trading operations.. That is why the 500 euro banknotes got their nickname " The US stopped using 500, 1000, 5000 dollar bills back in 1969. If large banknotes are now taken out of use again, this will deal a blow to autocratic regimes, for example, in the DPRK.

They will lose the easy way to launder money.

U.S. research says giving up $100 will help fight tax evasion and commercial theft. Even the beginning of a discussion about the possible elimination of hundred dollar bills will create problems in Russia, Iran, Venezuela and other countries.. Just a hint of this could shake Putin's political status quo more than sanctions. In the end, any non-violent way to get Putin to abandon his imperialist goals and save lives in Ukraine is worth trying..