Western Governments Made Sanctions Decisions Without Consulting Russia Experts or Economic Analysts

What was said

"I tracked as many of these people as I could down. I asked each and every one of them, some of them people who I certainly would have expected Western governments to want to consult before they took the enormous sanctions decisions against Russia that they began to take in February 2022. Did anybody from any Western government contact you? And without exception, every one of them said to me, 'No.' I subsequently learned that in relation to the decision to freeze the Russian central bank assets, the Federal Reserve Board in the United States was not spoken to or consulted either."

The host claims Western governments implemented comprehensive sanctions against Russia in 2022 without consulting experts with practical knowledge of the Russian economy, including those in oil, engineering, and finance sectors. Even the Federal Reserve was allegedly not consulted on central bank asset freezes. The host argues this pattern of insulated decision-making by a small elite group continues with current defense spending policies.