Taylor: Current sanctions against Russia insufficient

"Sanctions against Russia are insufficient as during this time we have not seen Russians leaving Donbas or Crimea," Taylor said in an interview with Georgian First Channel.

According to him, the purpose of sanctions is to make Russia stop its aggressive actions, and that is why the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan, Canada and other countries introduced those restrictions.

“I must say that there are wider sanctions that the international community could impose on Russia. On the one hand, there are sectoral sanctions against the defense, energy, financial sectors that we can use against Russia. We can even introduce restrictions against more people to prevent them from getting a visa or their families from traveling or getting an education in the UK or the USA or to freeze their securities,” the diplomat noted.

He also reminded about "one of the most powerful sanctions" that has not yet been imposed on Russia, namely its exclusion from the international financial system.

"We have never done this but it can be used if another aggressive step is taken. This sanction is a price for Putin," Taylor said.

In his view, Putin did not expect the West to impose sanctions for such a long time. "The Kremlin probably thought that they would work with some countries (we know them) and the sanctions would be lifted, but that did not happen," Taylor said.

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