Biden: The United States will not send troops to Ukraine, but there will be economic sanctions on Russia

The US president announced economic sanctions and export restrictions to Russia. He also stated that he will defend “every iota of NATO territory”, but will not send troops to Ukraine.

“Our armed forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies and reassure these Eastern allies”, stated Joe Biden in a televised speech.

At a press conference, the president said Russia has carried out an unprovoked attack on Ukraine and that, to a large extent, what the United States predicted is happening. It promised – in that sense – new sanctions after what he described as a flagrant violation of the right and Russia’s rejection of diplomacy.

It will sanction – he added – four other Russian banks, including VTB, the country’s second largest bank, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will cut off more than half of Russia’s technology imports.

“This means that all their assets in the US will be frozen (…) We are going to stop Russia’s ability to finance itself”, remarked Biden, who highlighted the importance of international coordination of these economic measures against Moscow, in a speech from the Casa Banca.

The president stressed that -for now- he will not impose a ban on the use of the SWIFT banking system used in Russia.

Although he added that removing Russia from the Swift interbank network was still “an option” but that “currently it is not (a) position” shared by the Europeans.

At another point, he promised that he would ensure that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, becomes “an outcast on the international scene”and said he doesn’t have “no plan” to talk to him.

”Putin’s aggression against Ukraine will end up costing Russia dearly, economically and strategically. we’ll make sure of that”, affirmed Biden.

-Petroleum-

He also promised to release oil from the strategic reserve if necessary to protect consumers from the impact of rising prices.

Prices are on the rise due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the prospect that supplies from Russia will be affected.

Washington”will release additional barrels of oil when conditions warrant”, said Biden who pointed out that “Americans are already suffering”.

In addition, he advanced that the United States is working with allies in a “collective release of strategic oil reserves of the main energy-consuming countries”.