A top legal expert has said that Western sanctions are irrelevant in stopping Russia’s war on Ukraine and will strengthen Vladimir Putin’s regime in the medium-term. Dr Martin Navias, senior visiting research fellow at King’s College London, told an audience at The Defence of Europe conference at KCL, co-hosted with Reaction, that it’s only in the long-term that economic penalties might have an impact: “In the short-term, sanctions will have no effect on Putin’s decisions on the battlefield. In the medium-term, they’ll strengthen Putin.”