Analysis: ‘Turning up to a gunfight with a peashooter’: Johnson under fire for limited sanctions against Russia – By Beth Rigby (Sky News) / February 23, 2022
The government says it wants to be able to ratchet up sanctions if the Ukraine situation escalates further, but critics say we must hit Russia “hard and hit them now”.
President Biden, Prime Minister Johnson, President Macron, Chancellor Scholz and the European Commission President von der Leyen: as the West woke up to Russian incursions into Ukraine, the co-ordinated response began with leaders announcing limited sanctions, with the promise of more.
Their aim – outlined by leaders on podiums and in legislative chambers across Western capitals – was twofold, according to one diplomatic source: to demonstrate to the Kremlin that the West was unified, co-ordinated and resolute and to the stagger the sanctions in order to keep its own ratchet mechanism against an unpredictable adversary.
“We need to keep some sanctions in our locker, both so we can tighten the vice on Russia if it doesn’t deescalate, and so we can respond to further aggression,” said one diplomatic source. “If we do everything now and then have nothing in reserve.”
