The Western world has imposed a wide range of sanctions in order to try to deter and punish Russia in the wake of its military operation in Ukraine.

Sanctions are widely used by governments – a non-military strategy to try to affect behavior of other nations. 

But they have a patchy success rate. 

Take the case of Venezuela, whose government has been heavily sanctioned by the US and European Union in recent years. 

CGTN’s Stephen Gibbs explains.