The West’s hope that the country could be brought to its knees economically relatively quickly has not been fulfilled. Nevertheless, experts advise keeping up the pressure on Putin.
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Claus Hulverscheidt, Berlin
Recently, it has not often happened that Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Olaf Scholz agreed. A few days ago, however, the Kremlin chief had to agree with his opponents in Washington and Berlin on one point: Since the start of the “special operation” against Ukraine, the Russian president said in a speech that the West has been exerting “unprecedented sanctions pressure” on his country that deep economic reforms will not be avoided. However, anyone who believed that Putin’s statement, a good two months after the start of the war against the neighboring country, was the first indication of an imminent change of course was mistaken. According to the President’s message, Russia will rather “come to terms with the new realities” and even emerge stronger from the crisis.