# Lavrov on sanctions

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Lavrov on sanctions," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/lavrov-on-sanctions/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The two remarks by Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov that John Kiriakou pairs to summarise the failure of the sanctions weapon — that Russia was surprised by how swiftly the Americans imposed sanctions, and, a year or two later, surprised by how quickly Russia got around them.*

- **First remark:** Surprise at the swiftness of American implementation
- **When:** About a week after the sanctions were announced
- **Second remark:** Surprise at the quickness of Russian circumvention
- **When (second):** A year or two later
- **Kiriakou's point:** Sanctions strengthened Russian domestic industry

**Lavrov on sanctions** is the pair of statements by Russian foreign minister [Sergey Lavrov](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sergey-lavrov) that [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) uses to compress the arc of the Western sanctions campaign against Russia into two sentences.

## The pair

Agreeing that sanctions had not worked against Russia and had instead strengthened its domestic industry, Kiriakou supplied the Russian side of the ledger.

*"Foreign Minister Lavrov said two things. He said, number one, the Russians were surprised at the swiftness with which the Americans implemented sanctions. He said that just a week after the sanctions were announced. And then a year or two later, he said he was surprised at the quickness with which the Russians were able to get around sanctions."*[1][2]

## The frame it sits in

Kiriakou made the observation immediately after arguing that a rhetorical weapon had been devalued the same way an economic one had. Sanctions *"sort of forced the the Iranians to stand on their own or their own two feet"*; calling everybody who disagrees with a policy an anti-Semite *"has made the meaning worthless."*[1]

He extended the same logic to Iran, where he says forty-seven years of sanctions left the country making for itself whatever it could not buy: *"if they have a need for something that they can't buy because of sanctions, they just make it themselves, and they've become quite good at it."*[3]

## The wider argument

Kiriakou's separate illustration of what overuse of the sanctions weapon produced — a Chinese domestic payment card routed through Shanghai rather than New York — is set out at [sanctions effectiveness](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sanctions-effectiveness). His summary there and here is the same: *"that is what happens when you overuse and overimpose sanctions."*[4]

## See also

- [Sergey Lavrov](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sergey-lavrov)
- [Sanctions Effectiveness](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sanctions-effectiveness)
- [The anti-semite smear](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-anti-semite-smear)
- [Sanctions and the Russian adjustment](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sanctions-and-the-russian-adjustment)

## Sources

1. War with Iran - Interview with John Kiriakou (2026-02-11), at 1:39:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73fo1y&t=5940s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-11-health-ranger-report-war-with-iran-interview-with-john-kiriakou/
2. War with Iran - Interview with John Kiriakou (2026-02-11), at 1:39:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73fo1y&t=5971s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-11-health-ranger-report-war-with-iran-interview-with-john-kiriakou/
3. War with Iran - Interview with John Kiriakou (2026-02-11), at 1:34:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73fo1y&t=5644s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-11-health-ranger-report-war-with-iran-interview-with-john-kiriakou/
4. War with Iran - Interview with John Kiriakou (2026-02-11), at 1:40:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73fo1y&t=6002s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-11-health-ranger-report-war-with-iran-interview-with-john-kiriakou/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/lavrov-on-sanctions/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt