I understand that most sanctions against Russia are expected to cripple its economy. The war in Ukraine would then become prohibitively expensive, and Russia would have to withdraw. I also see how seizing or freezing the assets of oligarchs which could be used to finance the war might have a similar effect, though luxury assets like yachts and mansions are IMO of low liquidity.
What puzzles me is the expected effect of personal sanctions against Russian government officials. For instance, 386 members of the Russian Parliament (Duma) have been targeted for their support of the treaties that recognised the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. What are these sanctions expected to achieve?
Sanctions would make those people resign or change their minds. Unlikely. Now that they are denied entry in most of the nice-to-live countries, their only reasonable option is to stay in Russia, and disagreeing with Putin for them would mean not only political suicide, but also a risk of jail or assassination.
Sanctions would force them to overthrow Putin, or to convince him to stop the war. Also unlikely, they are not close enough to even meet Putin in person. And for the few who are close enough, there seem to be no guarantees that the sanctions are lifted once the war stops, so trying to actually stop it looks like taking a huge personal risk for little benefit.
Sanctions would prevent them from supporting the war financially. Again, most of those people are not rich enough to make any difference on the country level.
Sanctions are meant to be simply a punishment. Fair enough, though punishing them doesn't stop the war.
Am I missing a point here? So far the highest Russian official to resign as a protest against the war was Chubais who AFAIK is not under personal sanctions, and was a wedding general of sorts. It looks like sanctions are having the opposite effect, making the support of Putin the only viable course of action for the Russian officials.