The United States can devastate Russia's economy if it wants by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, says legendary investor George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management.

"The strongest deterrent is in the hands of the United States because it can release oil from the strategic oil reserve, which would then reduce the price of oil, and that would ruin the Russian economy, which lives on oil," he told Marketplace.

To be sure, Soros said he hopes that doesn't happen.

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The sanctions that the United States and Europe are slapping on Russian oligarchs could be counter-productive, he said.

"The Russian economy is very weak because the oligarchs who run the country don't trust it and they send their money abroad," Soros said. "So if you stop the inflow of funds, that will bring the Russian economy to its knees."

But the sanctions make it more difficult for the oligarchs to take their money out of Russia, thus boosting the Russian economy, Soros said.

He said the West needs to spend more energy on helping Ukraine, rather than just hurting Russia.

"Ukraine is determined to reform, but it needs protection," Soros said.

Meanwhile, Russia could suffer a recession from its intervention in Ukraine even without trade sanctions from the West, according to a new World Bank report.

The Bank said Russia's GDP could shrink up to 1.8 percent this year, Reuters reports. "An intensification of political tension could lead to heightened uncertainties around economic sanctions and would further depress confidence and investment activities," the World Bank said.

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