https://www.politico.eu/article/estonian-pm-eu-has-to-speed-up-with-sanctions-on-russia-kaja-kallas/. "When we impose sanctions, some ask after six months, ‘Have they worked?’ And if they haven’t, ‘Remove them because they don’t work.’ But actually it is a longer process."

I'd have to agree with @kajakallas here. Not only is this a longer process - sometimes stretching decades - but the effectiveness of sanctions is often under-appreciated because of the mistaken view that their aim is to reverse bad behaviour.

Often, the aim is to deter the sanctioned party from further missteps (in which case, the effectiveness is hard to prove because one would have to demonstrate that actions that did not take place did not take place *because* of sanctions).

More often than not, sanctions are just a useful way of signalling disapprobation, being much better in this respect than doing nothing (and losing credibility) or doing too much (i.e. going to war, which no one wants). That's why sanctions as a policy instrument are so popular.

Interesting to observe that even a talk of further sanctions has resulted in a hysterical outpour of bile in Moscow, with various cultural figures, media pundits, and self-styled practitioners of geopolitics decrying Europe's decadence and prophesying its coming collapse.

Good lord, what times we live in.

But, yes, @kajakallas, sanctions work, and Lavrov's antics are one important indication of this.