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Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden on Thursday announced new economic sanctions that would make his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “pariah” for invading Ukraine, but acknowledged the lack of unity among Western powers to make it more destructive.
In a letter from the White House, Biden said the West would sanction four more Russian banks and that export restrictions would cut “more than half of Russian technology imports.”
“This will impose a heavy cost on the Russian economy, both in the short term and in the long term,” he said.
Biden said these measures, along with others announced this week, would make Putin an “international pariah,” and warned that any country that “accepts outright aggression” by Russia against Ukraine would “be tarnished” by its association with it. ..
Currently, the United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on 24 people and an organization of Belarus because their country “supported and facilitated the invasion” of Ukraine.
Biden emphasized that for now, no direct sanctions are planned against Putin, who is believed to have amassed a huge fortune during his two decades in power.
And Russia will not be excluded from the international payment system SWIFT, a measure requested by Ukraine, due to the lack of agreement between Western countries. “It is always an option available, but at the moment that is not the position the rest of Europe wants to take,” he said.
According to an American military source, the Russian attack aims to “decapitate” the Ukrainian government and install a pro-Moscow regime in its place.
– G7 closes ranks-
Biden addressed the nation after attending a closed virtual meeting of the Group of Seven.
The group, made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, said in a statement that Russia had launched a “grave threat to the rules-based international order”.
Biden predicted on Twitter that the G7 would impose “devastating packages of sanctions and other economic measures to hold Russia accountable. We stand with the brave people of Ukraine.”
The seven industrial powers also said they were “ready to act” to minimize the consequences to global energy markets of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, and confirmed sanctions on a major oil pipeline in energy-rich Russia.
In London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain had frozen the assets of banking groups and arms manufacturers, imposed sanctions on five other oligarchs and closed its airspace to Russian airline Aeroflot.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said Western sanctions would “isolate the Russian economy from industrial progress, target and freeze financial assets and holdings, and significantly limit access to European and American markets.”
– in stages-
The first round of Western sanctions became known on Tuesday, after Putin announced he was sending “peacekeeping” forces to two small regions already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
The US government joined European allies in imposing sanctions on two Russian banks, Moscow’s sovereign debt and several oligarchs, among other actions.
And on Wednesday, when Russian forces were clearly about to attack, Biden announced that he would impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which connects Germany and Russia.
Germany had announced that it would prevent the opening of the gas pipeline, which is still not working.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned this week that “no Russian financial institution is safe.”
Some of the measures may have economic consequences for Western countries and threaten the recovery of the global economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stock markets are already dropping and oil prices have crossed the $100 per barrel mark.
To make it easier for consumers, Biden pledged on Thursday to release oil from the strategic reserve “when conditions warrant.”
He also tried to reassure the Americans that he would not send troops to fight Ukraine.
© 2022 AFP
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