Sanctions for Russian oligarchs unlikely to seriously impact Putin, experts say

This shift severely weakened the role of the oligarchs in Russian political life, according to Jonathan Eyal, international director at the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank known as RUSI. "Today, it is not like the Yeltsin period, where the oligarchs told the president what to do," Eyal said, referring to Boris Yeltsin, who was Russian president between 1991 and 1999. "These oligarchs are not likely to sway Putin's hand about the major things that he wants to do."