The US President has announced further punitive measures against Russia.
(Photo: AP)
Washington The USA has announced new sanctions against Russia because of the escalation in the Ukraine conflict. The punitive measures will target two banks, Russian government bond traders and supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday. Moscow “just announced it’s claiming a large chunk of Ukraine,” Biden said at the White House on Tuesday. This would pave the way for Putin to “take more territory by force.” Biden called the move a “shameless breach of international law.”
The Democrat promised further military aid and troop deployments to Ukraine and the Baltic States. “The United States, meanwhile, will continue to provide defense assistance to Ukraine, and we will continue to strengthen our NATO allies,” Biden said. “I have authorized additional movements of US forces and equipment already deployed in Europe.” The US would “defend every inch of NATO territory.”
After the latest escalation, Biden continues to expect a large-scale attack by Russia on the neighboring country. “We continue to believe that Russia is ready to go significantly further and launch a massive military strike against Ukraine,” Biden said, noting that Russia has stored blood reserves on the border with Ukraine. “You don’t need blood unless you’re going to start a war,” he clarified.
The US President interpreted Moscow’s recognition of the so-called People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk and the planned deployment of Russian troops in the eastern Ukrainian regions as the “beginning of an invasion” into Ukraine. In doing so, he went a step further than US officials were ready to do on Monday. The day before they had hesitated to speak specifically of an invasion.
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Additional sanctions could follow, stressed Biden. Americans would also have to brace themselves for higher gas prices, even if the US did everything it could to keep energy costs down for businesses and individuals.
Ban on trading on the major secondary market
The sanctions, which are intended to ban US banks from trading in Russian government bonds in the future, would cut off Moscow’s access to Western capital markets, stressed Biden. The US government had already banned US financial institutions from trading in government bonds on the primary market last year, but not on the important secondary market. The two banks that fall under US sanctions are VEB and its military bank, Biden said.
On Monday evening, Putin recognized the independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin chief also ordered Russian soldiers to be sent to eastern Ukraine.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the developments in the Ukraine crisis:
John Herbst, former US ambassador to Ukraine, said he was impressed by the sanctions. They are a clear signal, he said on the US stock exchange broadcaster CNBC, and are much stricter than the sanctions that the US announced on Monday and that were only limited to the two separatist areas. Weak sanctions would only encourage Putin, Herbst pointed out.
The European Union (EU) had previously announced a sanctions package similar to that from the USA. According to information from Brussels, it should also include a trading ban for Russian government bonds in order to make it more difficult for the Russian state to refinance. In addition, several hundred people and companies are said to be on the EU sanctions list.
With agency material
More: Current developments on the Ukraine crisis in the live blog