Russia's annexation of Crimea and first Western sanctions

Following Ukraine's Euromaidan protests and the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, Russian forces took control of Crimea, and a disputed referendum led to its formal annexation on March 18, 2014 — a move not recognized by most of the international community. The US, EU, and allies responded with sanctions targeting Russian individuals, banks, and energy and defense firms, restricting their access to Western capital markets and technology. Combined with the collapsing oil price later that year, the sanctions helped push the ruble down sharply and tipped Russia into recession in 2015. The 2014 sanctions regime was the first step in a broader economic decoupling between Russia and Western economies that intensified dramatically after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.