With the outlook of the war in Ukraine uncertain, multinational companies with continued exposure to Russia could be wondering what comes next. A longer view on US policymaking sees recent actions as an omen, predicting future weaponizing of regulations, as well as trade realignment and geopolitical division.

Some of the immediate global effects of the Russia-Ukraine crisis are within commodity supply chains, particularly related to food and energy, with potentially long-lasting social and institutional implications.

[Free to read upon sharing contact details] As the build-up and response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has clearly demonstrated, the US, EU, UK, and many other countries use sanctions as both a reactive and proactive tool in foreign policy. Whether used as deterrent to specific actions or in response to major geopolitical actions, the sanctions themselves have significant and widespread implications for business that increase legal, operational and reputational risks to business across the globe.

Updated version released April 2022 , covering the latest developments in UK GDPR, including the International data transfer agreement (IDTA) which came into force last month – There are also some very significant GDPR ramifications to this post-Covid new normal. WFH, even if only a part of the post-Covid normal, has rendered many existing security regimes, designed for a pre-pandemic world, redundant.