The fine line between punishing Russia and punishing Russians

I was in court all day yesterday (as a lawyer, this time) and missed the tempest created by Michael McFaul’s now-deleted tweet telling Russians they are personally responsible for the defenestration of Ukraine if they don’t start protesting against Vladmir Putin:

Russians should be encouraged to take to the streets against their increasingly murderous dictator, and many are doing just that. And yet, when I read this tweet my first thought was, “are you going to personally fly in to break them out of jail, Mike?”

Those of us in free countries in 2022 like to think we’d be Sophie Scholl had we lived in Nazi Germany, but the sad fact is that most of us would just be keeping our heads down so as to not attracted any unwanted attention from the Gestapo. A few of us - the ones who really go out of their way to proclaim their virtue on social media - are the ones who’d most likely turn in our neighbours, because that was how you virtue signalled in the Third Reich.

Sanctions can be an effective tool against hostile governments, but they should be used like a scalpel, specifically targeting the leadership and those who most benefit from it. I am concerned that we’re instead wielding them like a chainsaw, and that it could rebound to Putin’s benefit.

For example, if this is true, are we expecting teenage Russian hockey players to overthrow the Putin regime?