Biden confirms new sanctions on Russia but excludes US military intervention in Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has confirmed a new set of sanctions, including limiting exports, will be imposed on Russia following the Kremlin’s attack to Ukraine.
“This is going to impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time,” he said during a White House press conference. “We have purposefully designed these sanctions to maximise a long-term impact on Russia and to minimise the impact on the United States and our allies.”
Biden stressed that the sanctions were not only imposed by the US but are part of a wider effort to stop the conflict.
“I want to be clear, the United States is not doing this alone,” he continued. “For months we’ve been building a coalition of partners representing well more than half the global economy.”
In addition to the ban on US to Russia exports, the US have already started sanctioning banks through asset freezing, including VTB, Russia’s second largest bank that holds assets worth $250bn.
“Between our actions and those of our allies and partners we estimate that we’ll cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports.”
The president has also denied that US troops will militarily intervene in the conflict, saying “our forces are going to Europe to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the east.”
Biden confirmed that NATO members and allied will meet tomorrow to “affirm our solidarity and to map out the next steps we’ll take to further strengthen all aspects of our NATO alliance.”
When asked if Putin’s threat to the West meant a nuclear strike, the US President said: “I have no idea what he is threatening, I know what he has done.”