Former NATO Secretary General: 'We have made Putin stronger'

Western sanctions against Russia have "inadvertently" made Russian President Vladimir Putin even stronger, according to former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

"I never imagined that, in fact, economic sanctions against Russia would somehow make Putin stronger, because the Russian elite are becoming increasingly dependent on the Kremlin and Putin," Rasmussen said at the Hudson Institute, during the symposium "US Sanctions Against the Russian Federation: Assessing the Impact and Costs."

"Because if we didn't want war with Russia, what else could we do besides impose sanctions? We did just that."

"While I am aware that such a move could lead to negative consequences, I believe that doing nothing would lead to far worse negative consequences," Rasmussen concluded.

According to VNE