US President Joe Biden announced, on Tuesday, the imposition of sanctions against Russia and the transfer of US soldiers to the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), in response to the “beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine”.
Joining the actions of EU allies, Biden told Biden in a White House speech “the first tranche of sanctions to impose costs on Russia and respond to its actions.”
“We are completely applying the embargo sanctions to the two large Russian financial institutions, VEB (one of the largest investment and development banks) and its military bank,” the US president said.
Similarly, the United States will implement “global sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt.” “This means that we have cut off the Russian government from Western funding,” Biden said.
In this sense, he made clear that Russia would no longer be able to obtain money from the West or trade its new debt in the markets of US allies.
Biden also indicated that, starting tomorrow, his country will impose sanctions on the Russian elites and their families, as he stressed that they are part of the “corrupt Kremlin games”, and did not rule out expanding this. If Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine.
In the military sphere, the US President on Tuesday allowed the transfer of US soldiers and military equipment, already on European bases, to the Baltic states, without providing figures.
“Let me be clear, these are completely defensive moves on our part, and we have no intention of fighting Russia,” Biden said, stressing that the United States and its allies would defend “every inch of NATO territory” in case of aggression.
He explained that in recent months the United States has coordinated with NATO and European partners to prepare its response to Russia.
Russia’s parliament on Tuesday ratified the recognition of the independence of the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, and authorized sending Russian troops to Donbass, less than 24 hours after Putin did.
“Who in the name of God thinks that Putin has the right to declare new states on his neighbour’s land? This is a flagrant violation of international law and requires a strong response from the international community.” (me)