US President Joe Biden announced Thursday sanctions on the two main Russian banks and He promised to make an international “pariah” of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.after his invasion of the Ukraine.
The immediate US response to the Russian attack also included an order to send 7,000 more US military to Germanyin addition to the expulsion of the Minister Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Washington, Sergei Trepelkov.
“Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will suffer the consequences,” the US president said in a speech at the White House.
Biden described Putin as a “tyrant” who wants to achieve “an empire at all costs” and “restore the Soviet Union”but he predicted that he will not be able to “extinguish” democracy because the vast “majority of the world” condemns his invasion.
“We will make sure that Putin is a pariah on the international stage,” he stressed.
He added that right now there is “a complete rupture” in the relations between the United States and Russiaand therefore has “no intention” of speaking by telephone with his Russian counterpart.
Obama’s support for Biden’s decisions
Former United States President Barack Obama (2009-2017) today asked Americans to close ranks around the current president, Joe Biden, in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and supported sanctions against Russia despite the fact that they may bring “economic consequences ”.
“The whole world has to condemn Russia’s actions and show support for Ukraine. And every American, regardless of party, should support President Biden’s efforts, in coordination with our allies, to impose forceful sanctions on Russia,” the former president said in a statement.
Russian banking coup
The US Treasury Department announced sanctions on five Russian banksincluding the country’s two main financial institutions, Sberbank and VTB, as well as oligarchs close to the Kremlin, including the president of the largest Russian oil company, Rosneft, Igor Sechin, and key institutions in Belarus.
In addition to other restrictions imposed in recent days, Washington has already “sanctioned Russian banks that in total have about a trillion dollars in assets”, explained Biden.
Cutting Sberbank’s connection to the US financial system means depriving Russia’s largest bank of dollar transactions, which the White House says controls almost a third of the Russian banking sector’s assets and is “crucial” to the country’s economy.
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The Treasury hopes that Putin will feel the pain of these “unprecedented” sanctions, which also freeze the assets of VTB and three other banks. -Otkritie, Novikom and Sovcom-as well as all its subsidiaries, and impose restrictions on the debt operations of 13 Russian entities.
Also, Biden announced restrictions on high-tech exports to Russia to weaken its strategic sectors, including the military, and predicted that, over time, the US and its allies will deprive Moscow of “more than half” of its imports of those technological products.
That will hamper its “ability to modernize its Army, degrade its aerospace industry and damage its ability to build ships,” the president said.
Long-term effects
However, Biden acknowledged that “it will take time” for the sanctions to have the desired effect and make Putin change course, who, he added, “is going to test the determination of the West” to see if it remains united.
Biden did not rule out that he could sanction Putin himself and insisted that the invasion of Ukraine, which began this Thursday and has killed at least 57 Ukrainians and injured 169 others, will end up “costing the Russian president dearly.”
“When the history of this era is written, Putin’s decision to launch a totally unjustified war against Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger,” he stressed.
US military in Germany
The president made it clear that he will not send US troops “to fight in Ukraine” but will “defend NATO territory” if necessary.
“If (Putin) moves to NATO countries, we will get involved,” he said.
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The Pentagon announced that Biden had authorized the deployment of 7,000 more US military personnel to Germany, in addition to the 6,800 troops recently sent by the United States to that country. and others from the eastern flank of NATO: Romania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Another 80,000 US soldiers are in Europe on permanent or rotating missions, and this Thursday, in addition, the Department of Defense sent six F-35 fighters to the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
The United States believes that The Russian operation is “designed to take control of key population centers” in Ukraine, including the capital, Kiev.
Biden stressed that the invasion “is unfolding largely as predicted” by the United States, which, in an attempt to dissuade Putin, has adopted the unusual strategy of publicizing details of its intelligence on how an attack on Ukraine might take place. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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