Legal Consequences of the Impact of Economic Sanctions on the Execution of Foreign Economic Contracts

Introduction: the economic sanctions have recently become widespread as a measure of influence on other states in order to solve certain political or economic problems. The imposed restrictions affect not only the economy of the country as a whole, but also affect individual economic entities that are parties to foreign trade contracts. Purpose: to study the impact of international sanctions on the enforceability and validity of international contracts and to determine ways to minimize the losses of its parties. Methods: the research uses the universal method (dialectical materialism), the general scientific methods (logical: induction, deduction, analysis and synthesis; system and functional), the private-law methods (formal legal, comparative legal). Results: the legal grounds and types of international sanctions are considered, as well as the degree of their impact on both the country’s economy and the activities of individual participants in civil turnover who bear direct losses caused by the inability to fulfill their obligations under international contracts. Conclusions: the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy will be limited and, in addition to the negative ones, may have a positive effect in the form of digitalization of all industries and changes in the structure of various business areas. Nevertheless, the imposition of sanctions makes it impossible to execute previously concluded foreign trade contracts, which leads to significant damage to specific subjects of international trade, whose losses can be minimized through the use of the institution of force majeure and the formation of appropriate judicial practice.