As RedState reported, reports of war crimes committed by Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Bucha put the West in a position of having to respond. Dead bodies, some shot execution-style, were videoed scattered along the streets, with satellite imagery showing they were there prior to Vladimir Putin’s forces vacating the area.

After several days, the Biden administration has finally responded with another round of sanctions, mostly on the rich and powerful inside Russia.

We are implementing sanctions on two of the largest Russian financial institutions, designating the adult children of President Putin, the wife and adult child of Foreign Minister Lavrov, and 21 members of Russia’s National Security Council, including former President Medvedev.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 6, 2022

This just seems like grasping at straws at this point. I’m not saying that the United States shouldn’t levy these sanctions, but I am suggesting that they will have no real effect. These Russian officials and family members are extraordinarily powerful inside the country they rule, directly or by proxy. They have more money than they could ever spend. International sanctions may stop them from taking that vacation to Florida they were planning, but otherwise, there’s very little meat left on the bone here to cause them harm.

The administration’s latest move underscores the difficulty of dealing with a rogue nation. At the end of the day, there’s only so much that can be done without getting into a direct conflict, and I think we reached the point of vastly diminishing returns a while ago. Still, the Russian economy is going to suffer as these sanctions regimes continue, and that means the already poor nation is going to get poorer. Unfortunately, it’s the wealthy that are most likely to come out of this largely unscathed, at least regarding any real impact on their lives.