President Joe Biden announced the U.S. was ordering heavy financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs on Tuesday, declaring that Moscow had flagrantly violated international law in what he called the “beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
“None of us will be fooled” by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims about Ukraine, the U.S. president said.
As part of his announcement, Biden said Washington is imposing “full blocking sanctions” against Russia’s military bank and the financial institution VEB. The White House also announced it’s implementing “comprehensive sanctions on Russian sovereign debt,” meaning Russia’s government has been cut off from Western financing, Biden said.
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Furthermore, Washington will also impose sanctions on Russian elites and their family members in the coming days, and has promised to introduce steeper punishments if Moscow continues its aggression in Ukraine.
Biden said he was also moving additional U.S. troops to the Baltic states on NATO’s eastern flank bordering Russia.
Biden joined the 27 European Union members who unanimously agreed on Tuesday to levy their own initial set of sanctions targeting Russian officials over their actions in Ukraine.
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