Capitalism's core is empathy, not greed. Businesses need to care what people want. Eight decades of communism have destroyed that in Russia

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The western world began sanctioning Russia after its illegal takeover of Crimea in 2014. After its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, western nations froze more than $300 billion of Russian financial assets and sanctioned more of its trade, leading many firms to leave Russia voluntarily. The West now needs to seize, not just freeze, Russian assets to compensate Ukraine for war damages, extend sanctions to everyday products such as food and pharmaceuticals, and compel companies and individuals to choose between operating in Russia or the west.

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Leaving Russia will not be costly in the long run. Russia is not fertile ground for capitalism. The reason is endemic moral turpitude, the result of almost eight decades of communist rule. Lacking morality, Russia will remain a rogue state incapable of sustaining economic growth.

Functioning systems of capitalism and democracy require participants to have a moral compass. T.S. Eliot said the chief illusion of modern politics is the belief it can build a system so perfect that the people in it do not have to be good. Russia’s government is........

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