Current sanctions announced by US won’t affect Putin at all: Estonia's former prez
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former Estonian president, believes that the current round of economic sanctions announced by the Biden administration will have little to no impact on Russian President Vladimir Putin.Speaking exclusively to WION on Wednesday, Ilves said, "The ones (sanctions) announced now are pointless since they are directed towards the common people of DNR (Donetsk) and LNR (Lugansk). The real sanctions that bite would affect the oligarchs and the people in power. " "The entire Russian leadership has massive amounts of money stored in the West. And why is there money stored there? Because they don’t even trust their country’s rule of law, "he added.He said that sanctions would have an effect only if they were directed towards the elite responsible for the current situation.US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced new economic sanctions in response to Putin's recognising two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine—Donetsk and Lugansk—as "independent". He signed an executive order to "prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by US persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine," an abbreviated reference to Donetsk and Lugansk.Even though the US and a handful of countries in Europe warned of more sanctions in the event of Ukraine's invasion, many countries in the region have kept mum.When he was asked whether the aim to expand NATO by allowing Ukraine to join the alliance led to the current escalation, the former president said, "This is a complete canard." "NATO has no desire to expand itself. The question is whether it is open to accepting countries or not, and why do these countries want to join NATO? NATO has no urge to expand; it will expand when countries fulfil its requirements. For example, holding free elections and upholding democratic principles, "he said.The difference is that in the 1990s, we undertook difficult, and often painful, reforms that allowed us to join the EU and NATO. So, we do feel threatened, but once you are in NATO, you feel much more secure. "