Interview: Impact of latest Russia sanctions

George Ajjan, an international political strategist, downplayed the actual effects of the sanctions. "Discussion of this type of irrelevant sanctions amounts to little more than inside baseball for political nerds," Ajjan told Newsweek. "Academics like Åslund take delight in dropping the sanctioned names of obscure think-tankers and former diplomats as if they were A-list movie stars banned from the red carpet, but in reality, the domestic political impact of Putin's latest move is zero."