Political scientists spend years studying whether economic sanctions – like those imposed by the Obama White House against Russia regarding its actions in Ukraine – actually work.

But in the case of the current U.S. sanctions against Russia, which primarily affect Russia's domestic oil industry, one thing is certain: when one of the world’s wealthiest corporations, in this case Exxon Mobil Corp., headquartered in the U.S., is actively working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against White House efforts, the White House will lose.

That’s essentially what’s now occurring, as documents and recent events clearly indicate. On Saturday, despite the sanctions, Exxon Mobil announced it was going ahead with its partnership with Russian oil giant Rosneft and drilling Russia’s first well in the Arctic region (in the Kara Sea, which has huge reserves of oil and gas).

Russian President Vladimir Putin cheered Exxon Mobil’s decision – but there is considerably more to this story than what Exxon Mobil and Rosneft announced Saturday, and none of it bodes well for American efforts to use trade sanctions to affect political and military outcomes in Ukraine.

The White House trade sanctions have specifically targeted Rosneft, the Russian government-owned oil company, and its CEO, Igor Sechin. While the sanctions can’t halt joint projects between companies such as Exxon Mobil and Rosneft, they are designed to inflict pain by depriving business interests close to Putin of financing and technology.

But that isn’t happening now (and isn’t likely to anytime soon), thanks to Exxon Mobil, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s arm in Moscow (the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia), and efforts by Ketchum, the Russian federation’s lobbying firm in the U.S.

Putin hailed the Exxon Mobil-Rosneft drilling efforts in the Arctic as a model of cooperation, according to a Reuters report. What this means, in effect, is that Exxon Mobil’s global reach and business interests supersede U.S. political interests in the region.

“Commercial success is driven by efficient international cooperation. Businesses, including Russian and foreign companies, perfectly realize that and, despite certain current political difficulties, pragmatism and common sense prevail,” Putin said in a video conference with Sechin and Exxon Mobil’s lead manager in Russia, Glenn Waller. “I am convinced that the joint projects between Rosneft, Exxon Mobil and other companies will benefit our national companies.”

Despite sanctions in place designed to target companies, such as Rosneft, and business leaders, like Sechin, close to Putin in an effort to affect the Russian president’s actions in Ukraine, Exxon Mobil chose to side with Russia due to its long-term interests with Rosneft and the Arctic oil and gas reserves.

But there’s more to this story than the Exxon Mobil-Rosneft announcement about Arctic oil drilling over the weekend.

It turns out that Putin’s lobbyists are coordinating closely with Exxon Mobil and business trade groups linking Moscow and Washington, and sharing information on congressional and Obama administration leaders working to make the sanctions effective, according to lobbying activity forms reported on by investigative journalist Lee Fang in Vice.

Lobbying firms working in Washington on behalf of foreign clients file activity reports with the Justice Department. Ketchum, which has represented the Russian government and Russian oil interests in the past, just filed its six-month disclosure form – which requires considerably more detail on activities conducted on behalf of foreign governments than domestic lobbying reports.

And beyond the usual media outreach efforts for the Russian government in the U.S., the Ketchum forms also show that it has corresponded closely with the two trade groups that have been central to D.C.-based efforts to water down the sanctions – the U.S.-Russia Business Council and the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, an entity created in Moscow by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Russian trade group affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (along with the National Association of Manufacturers) has sponsored paid advertisements denouncing the sanctions, claiming they would jeopardize American jobs. Exxon Mobil and several other large global corporations with long-term business ties to Russia are key corporate donors to the Moscow business group.

As the Obama administration efforts to pressure Putin over Ukraine were gearing up, White House officials tried to discourage U.S. business leaders from going to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. While the number of CEOs dropped slightly from previous years, the forum was still a success.

Ketchum led efforts in the U.S. to support Russia and the economic forum, and a number of prominent American business leaders went to the forum despite the White House pressure. Exxon Mobil, in fact, used the forum to highlight a meeting with Putin and a new partnership effort with Rosneft.

Meanwhile, the U.S.-Russia Business Council used the forum as a chance to network American business interests against the looming White House sanctions, and encouraged corporations based in the U.S. to “gather information on congressional activity related to Russia, to share perspective regarding the value of the business community’s long-term relationship with Russia and to continue to offer ourselves up as a resource regarding the impact of sanctions,” according to its website.

The truth is this: the Exxon Mobil-Rosneft ties are deep, and are not likely to be affected even slightly by the White House sanctions. A video this spring promoting the substantial partnership between the American and Russian oil giants is perfectly clear in how both companies operate globally – and how they aren’t really constrained either by geopolitics or economic sanctions.

The 14-minute Rosneft promotional video, posted on its website, states directly that it will receive technological expertise from Exxon Mobil – precisely what the U.S. sanctions are designed to block. Rosneft is unapologetic throughout it on what it hopes to receive from Exxon Mobil – leverage and technical expertise to exploit untapped oil and gas reserves.

So, years from now when political science studies are published in peer-reviewed journals on the utility (or futility) of White House trade sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian situation, they are almost certain to find this truth: Exxon Mobil and other U.S.-based business interests did what they do best, ensuring that the sanctions had virtually no geopolitical effect on the conflict in Ukraine.