German minister says Russia sanctions failed to have full impact

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has expressed her disappointment with the effect of the sanctions against Russia over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
"Actually, economic sanctions should have an economic impact. But they don't. Because the logic of democracies does not work in autocracies," the Green politician said in an interview with journalist Stephan Lamby for a newly published book.
The book "Ernstfall. Regieren in Zeiten des Krieges," which translates as "Emergency. Governing in Times of War," examines the German government's response to the war in Ukraine and will be published on Thursday.
"We have seen that this war cannot be ended with rational decisions, rational measures that you take between civilized governments," Baerbock said in an interview with Lamby in July.
Despite Western allies having imposed massive economic punitive measures on Russia after the attack on Ukraine, the Russian economy is growing. At the same time the German economy slipped into recession at the beginning of the year.
However, Western economists emphasise that Russia owes its growth mainly to its war economy and the massively increased production of weapons and ammunition. This is not sustainable growth.
In the interview, Baerbock is also critical of the German government's initial reluctance to travel to Kiev. She had been the first member of the government to travel to the war zone on May 10, 2022 - two and a half months after the Russian invasion.
At that time, numerous heads of state and government of European allies were already there on a solidarity visit, as well as Germany's opposition leader Friedrich Merz. Chancellor Olaf Scholz only visited more than a month later.