Sanctions against Russia must remain

Two years ago, the West imposed a package of sanctions against Russia that had never before been imposed on a country in the form and extent. Their impact was disappointing, but it still reaches far beyond Russia. As a result, the sanctions regime has created two powerful narratives: on the one hand, that the West, along with its values ​​and world order, is in decline and is disintegrating. On the other hand, many countries, especially in Europe, are suffering more than Russia, whose economy is navigating robustly through the war and has adapted. The second narrative in particular is powerful because it is used to make politics – and it is used in election campaigns to call for “communication with Moscow” so that cheap gas will soon flow again.