Abstract
This paper examines how sanctions affect Russia’s bilateral creative trade, focusing on the sanction episodes following the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Using annual bilateral data for 197 countries over the period 2002–2023 and drawing on recent advances in gravity-based trade estimation, the analysis situates sanctions involving Russia within a general-equilibrium-consistent global trade framework. The results show that sanctions involving Russia are associated with large and persistent declines in Russia’s bilateral creative trade, with effects intensifying across successive sanction episodes. The magnitude of these effects varies substantially across partner countries and by sanction direction, suggesting notable heterogeneity in Russia’s creative trade responses to sanctions.