A senior German economist has criticized Western sanctions against Russia as being weak overall. “The fact that sanctions were even agreed on quickly is positive,” Clemens Fuest, the president of the Ifo economic research institute, told dpa. “But the sanctions are weak overall, they will hardly impress the Russian government,” he added, noting that it would have been preferable to take action against many more Russian banks and individuals, freeze far more foreign assets and impose more comprehensive export bans. He also questioned Germany’s apparent reluctance to support the exclusion of Rus…