Sanctions Placed on Russia Must Ensure That the Country ‘Will Feel the Pain’: Irish EU Minister

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 21, 2022. Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

European Union sanctions placed on Russia must ensure that the country “will feel the pain,” Irish EU affairs minister Thomas Byrne said on Feb. 22.

“We’ve got to ensure that whatever happens, that Russia certainly feels the pain ... and that’s going to happen,” Byrne told reporters. “Today, what has happened is a grotesque breach of international law, it’s a grotesque breach of the sovereignty of Ukraine.”