'Sooner or later Europe will turn off Russian gas,' says analyst
Economic sanctions are having "no impact" on Russian behaviour in Ukraine, a US analyst has told Euronews.
Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, a geopolitical risk firm, made the claim after the European Union proposed banning Russian coal imports into the bloc.
"Economic sanctions continue to escalate every day from the United States, Europe and other wealthy countries," said Bremmer.
"But it is not changing Russian behaviour one iota."
Other experts have told Euronews that until Brussels targets Russian gas imports into the EU, sanctions will not have "a real impact".
Bremmer went on to tell Euronews that "a lot" of defensive aid from NATO and "Ukrainian courage" had been more effective in influencing Russia's invasion.
"Frankly, the more meaningful response has been the Stinger missiles, the drones, it's been the Javelin anti-tank missiles ... tanks," he said.
This, says Bremmer, is the reason why Russia has steered away from "trying to remove Zelenskyy from power" and "take over Kyiv", towards focusing on territory in the east of Ukraine.
In April, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Union (EU) would finance the purchase and delivery of arms to Ukraine worth €450 million.
This was followed by an additional $800 million (€734 million) in security assistance from the US in March.
Bremmer said NATO had stopped short of sending fighter jets to Ukraine, as there were serious questions around whether the Ukrainians could operate and field them effectively.
"You don't want to send those weapons to Ukraine and then have them completely not be effective," said Bremmer. "That makes the West look weaker."
Bremmer was also sceptical of the effect cutting off Russian energy supplies to
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