US President Joe Biden announced new sanctions against Russia on Thursday after the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but reiterated that Washington will not directly enter the conflict.
“While we provided over $650 million in defensive assistance to Ukraine last year, I will say it again: our forces are not and will not be involved in the conflict with Russia in Ukraine, our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but they will defend our NATO allies and reassure our allies in the east [europeu]. As I’ve made clear, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power,” said Biden, who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to “re-establish the former Soviet Union.”
The sanctions, which Biden said will be monitored by the European Union and the G7, include limiting Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen; impede the financing capacity of the Russian armed forces and the country’s competitiveness in the high-tech economy; and blocking of large Russian banks, which together have around US$ 1 trillion in assets.
“This will impose a severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time. We purposely designed these sanctions to maximize a long-term impact on Russia and minimize the impact on the United States and our allies.”
On Tuesday, before the invasion, Biden had announced the first round of economic sanctions against Russia, which included “total blockade” of two major Russian financial institutions and “comprehensive sanctions” on the country’s sovereign debt and oligarchs. close to the Kremlin and their families.
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