By Innovation Times Security & Strategy Desk
Washington, Military and policy experts say that if the West and its partners want to meaningfully raise the cost of Russia’s war effort, blunt force alone will not suffice — the answer is to be cleverer, combining smarter sanctions, targeted military assistance, precision intelligence, and economic warfare that squeezes Moscow’s logistics, technology supply chains, and financing networks.
Analysts argue that Russia’s war machine is resilient not because it is invulnerable, but because past Western responses have often been predictable, slow, or fragmented. “If the objective is to change Moscow’s calculus, we need measures that are timely, surgically targeted, and difficult to mitigate,” said one senior strategy consultant. “In short, be cleverer.”
A smarter approach, experts say, involves several interlocking pillars. First, precision sanctions and enforcement that target the Kremlin’s access to advanced semiconductors, dual-use components, and critical manufacturing equipment will degrade Russia’s ability to replenish high-tech munitions over the medium term. That requires improved export controls, aggressive interdiction of smuggling routes, and close coordination with third-country suppliers who have been exploited to evade restrictions.
Second, policymakers recommend sustained, adaptable military assistance for Ukraine that focuses on systems which create asymmetric effects — long-range strike capabilities, electronic warfare kits, antiship and antitank weapons, and ammunition production lines. Rather than one-off deliveries, the emphasis should be on enduring industrial support that scales Ukraine’s capacity to absorb and use weapons, and on lower-profile capabilities that complicate Russian logistics.
Third, intelligence and cyber operations must be integrated more tightly with kinetic support. Experts call for faster, more secure intelligence-sharing mechanisms with Ukrainian forces and allied partners, enabling strikes on high-value nodes such as rail chokepoints, fuel depots, and arms warehouses while minimizing civilian harm. Cyber measures that disrupt Russian command-and-control, rail scheduling, and financial networks — used sparingly and legally — could multiply the effect of conventional strikes.
Fourth, economic measures should move beyond headline sanctions to include financial isolation of oligarch networks, targeted asset freezes, tighter controls on third-country transactions, and pressure on shipping and insurance markets that enable Russian exports. Price caps on Russian energy, if enforced globally, paired with aggressive monitoring of ship-to-ship transfers and shadow shipping practices, can blunt Moscow’s most important revenue stream.
Experts also stress the importance of closing loopholes. “Sanctions only bite if enforced,” noted a sanctions compliance adviser. That means providing capacity-building to partner states’ customs and financial regulators, incentivizing private-sector compliance, and leveraging legal tools to seize assets used to circumvent measures.
A political and messaging dimension is equally critical. The West must maintain unity and avoid signaling premature fatigue. Sustained public diplomacy that explains the rationale for measures — and offers clear exit ramps tied to verifiable behaviour — helps keep domestic and allied support intact. Economic packages and reconstruction pledges for affected countries can also undercut Russian influence in neutral states.
Several experts caution, however, that risks and trade-offs are real. Striking deeper into Russian supply lines or escalating cyber operations could provoke retaliation or broaden the conflict in unpredictable ways. Hence, “cleverness” also means risk-calibrated escalation management, legal rigor, and transparent norms for what kinds of operations are acceptable.
Finally, a long-term approach should prioritize resilience-building within allied economies — reducing dependence on hostile supply chains, boosting ammunition and critical-material stockpiles, and accelerating domestic defense-industrial base upgrades. Over time, such resilience raises the economic and political cost Russia must pay to sustain prolonged operations.
In sum, experts argue the formula is not necessarily more weapons or harsher words, but smarter policy mixes: targeted sanctions that bite where they hurt most, adaptive military aid that amplifies Ukraine’s advantages, integrated intelligence-cyber-kinetic campaigns, and sustained diplomatic unity. If implemented coherently, they say, those measures will do what brute force alone has failed to achieve — materially increase the long-term cost of war for Russia, and shift the strategic balance.
