EU sanctions against Russia are “the most minimal thing the EU can do,” said Rem Korteweg, a European foreign policy expert at the Clingendael Institute. Korteweg hopes that tackling the financing of “aggressive policies”, as the EU wants to do, will be of little use and will not make Russian President Putin “tremble”.

The European Union took sanctions against Russia after it recognized two rebel territories in Ukraine as independent states. For example, sanctions have been imposed on banks that finance Russian operations on Ukrainian territory. Russia’s access to EU money in the capital and financial markets will also be restricted, the presidents of the Council of European Union leaders and the European Commission said.

According to Korteweg, President Putin “will not shed a tear” over banking sanctions in the short term. “Putin has a complete state treasury meant for this. Russian soldiers are also used to not receiving a salary for several months. It won’t cause any problems in the short term.”

Korteweg also hopes the economic consequences of the current sanctions will be limited. Postponing the operation of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, for example, as Germany announced on Tuesday, is not helping much either. “Nord Stream 2 attracts attention, but the economic pressure it creates is minimal, as the pipeline is not yet used.”

Korteweg predicts that the EU wants to leave the diplomatic door open with these sanctions because the bloc expects Russia to take further action on Ukraine. There may also be disagreement within the EU about how far countries want to go with sanctions, he said.

What, according to Korteweg, “is still a bridge too far”, but could be, are sanctions for insuring oil tankers. They are not allowed to sail around uninsured. Insurance policies are mainly carried out in the UK. “That was one of the lessons to be learned from the sanctions against Iran at the time, and it was an effective leverage,” he said.

For this reason, the UK, which has now also announced sanctions against, among others, five financial institutions and three Russian billionaires, also played an important role in the sanctions. “Many bankers are close to Putin’s bank with the UK.”