Herbst: Sanctions against Russia work, but pressure is insufficient

“I am convinced that the response of the United States and Europe to the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine is insufficient. However, it is effective in countering the greater escalation from the Russian Federation. The sanctions in this situation are critical,” Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center Director John Herbst said at a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs "Russia’s Hybrid War against Ukraine," an Ukrinform correspondent reports from Strasbourg.

Amidst the sanctions regime, Putin is concerned with the welfare of the oligarchs from his entourage, not with the interests of Russian people, whose living standard decline year after year, he noted.

Herbst also praised the stance of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who consolidates the EU’s unity in the issue of extending restrictive measures against Russia.

He expressed the conviction that the Russian military aggression in eastern Ukraine, despite all the efforts and attracted financial and military resources, failed. After all, according to Herbst, the Kremlin has not succeeded in establishing a stable puppet regime in Donbas, which depends on the presence of thousands of Russian soldiers and arms supply. Herbst gave the example that Russia has redeployed as many tanks to the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine as no other country in Europe has.

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