German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has expressed disappointment with the effect of the sanctions against Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Actually, economic sanctions should have an economic impact, but they don’t. Because the logic of democracies does not work in autocracies,’’ the Green politician said.

The Green politician said this in an interview with journalist Stephan Lamby for a newly published book.

The book tittled `Ernstfall. Regieren in Zeiten des Krieges’, translated as emergency.

‘Governing in Times of War’ examines the German government’s response to the war in Ukraine and will be published on Thursday.

“We have seen that this war cannot be ended with rational decisions, rational measures that you take between civilised governments,’’ Ms Baerbock said in an interview with Lamby in July.

Despite the Western allies having imposed massive economic punitive measures on Russia after the attack on Ukraine, the Russian economy is still growing.

At the same time, the German economy slipped into recession at the beginning of the year.

However, Western economists emphasise that Russia owes its growth mainly to its war economy and the massively increased production of weapons and ammunition.

This is not sustainable growth.

In the interview, Ms Baerbock is also critical of the German government’s initial reluctance to travel to Kyiv.

She had been the first member of the government to travel to the war zone on May 10, 2022 – two and a half months after the Russian invasion.

At that time, numerous heads of state and government of European allies were already there on a solidarity visit.

This is as well as Germany’s opposition leader Friedrich Merz.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz only visited more than a month later. 

(dpa/NAN)