Biden announces sanctions against Russian oligarchs and banks for Ukraine invasion

Joe Biden announced this Tuesday a “first batch” of sanctions against Russia, preventing it from raising Western funds to repay sovereign debt and sanctioning banks and some “elites” from the country.

“We are implementing sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt. This means we cut off the Russian government from Western funding”, declared the American president in a brief speech from the White House.

“None of us will be fooled” for the statements about Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the US president. He added that there could be more sanctions if Putin goes ahead with his actions.

Biden said he was also moving more US troops to the Baltic states on the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that borders Russia.

Russia “it can no longer raise money in the West and cannot trade its new debt on our markets or on the European markets”, specified Biden.

This measure could influence the value of the ruble and increase the cost of imported products for Russian consumers.

Another target is the financial sector. “We are applying full blocking sanctions against two major Russian financial institutions, VEB (the public development bank Vneshekonombank) and its military bank”, he added without giving details.

What’s more, “Starting tomorrow, and in the days to come, we will also impose sanctions on Russian elites and their families. They share the corrupt profits of the Kremlin’s policies”.

More sanctions

Hours earlier, the 27 members of the European Union (EU) unanimously agreed to impose their own initial set of sanctions against Russian officials for their actions in Ukraine.

Germany announced for its part that it would stop the process of certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that comes from Russia, a lucrative agreement that is criticized by the United States for increasing European dependence on Russian hydrocarbons.

The new developments came after the upper house of the Russian parliament authorized Putin to use military force outside the country, an endorsement that could herald a broader attack on Ukraine, after the United States said a crackdown was already underway. Russian invasion of the neighboring country.

Several European rulers said earlier on Tuesday that Russian troops had penetrated rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine. The day before, the Russian president recognized these regions as independent states.

However, the extent of the Russian military deployments was unclear. Ukraine and its Western allies have long said Russian troops are fighting in the region, something Moscow has consistently denied.

Members of Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, voted unanimously to allow Putin to use military force outside the country, formalizing a Russian military deployment to rebel regions where an eight-year conflict has caused the death of more than 14,000 people.

Soon after, Putin laid out three conditions for ending the crisis that has threatened to plunge Europe back into war, bringing the specter of mass casualties, continent-wide power shortages and economic chaos across the planet.

Putin said the crisis could be resolved if Kiev recognizes Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014, gives up its bid to join NATO and partially demilitarizes.

The West has denounced the annexation of Crimea as a violation of international law and has previously rejected Ukraine’s permanent exclusion from NATO.

Asked if he had sent Russian troops to Ukraine and how far they could go, Putin replied: “I have not said that the troops are going there now.” He added that “it is impossible to forecast a specific pattern of action. It will depend on a concrete situation as things develop on the ground.”

With tensions running high and a broader conflict appearing ever more likely, the White House on Tuesday began referring to Russian troop deployments in eastern Ukraine as an “invasion,” after initially hesitating to use the term. , a red line that Biden had said would result in the United States imposing harsh sanctions against Moscow.

“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine,” Jon Finer, senior deputy national security adviser, told CNN. He said that “an invasion is an invasion and that is what is going on”.

For weeks now, Western powers have been warning of a possible invasion as Russia massed an estimated 150,000 troops on three sides of neighboring Ukraine. They promised swift and severe sanctions if such an invasion materialized.

Western leaders have long warned that Moscow would look for an argument to invade, a pretext that appeared to materialize on Monday, when Putin recognized as independent two breakaway areas in eastern Ukraine where government troops have fought U.S.-backed rebels. Russia.

The Kremlin announced on Tuesday that its recognition would extend even to large areas now held by Ukrainian forces.