US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he has directed new US sanctions against Russia that "will have an immediate and powerful impact on the Russian economy", in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"The impact of the economic sanctions we are imposing on Russia will take some time," Biden said in a speech on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Biden stressed that "four Russian banks will be added to the sanctions list, and Russia will be deprived of more than half of its imports of advanced technological products."
He stated that these sanctions "will incur heavy costs for the Russian economy, both immediately and in the long term."
Biden indicated that removing Russia from the SWIFT banking system, the main tool in the global financial system, is still an "option" to respond to its invasion of Ukraine.
But he made it clear that this option "is not currently a common position" among Europeans, stressing that other financial sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies on Russia will have "the same effect, or even a greater impact" than the option to exclude Moscow from Swift.
The US President indicated that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will become an "international pariah" after his decision to attack Ukraine, stressing that he does not intend to talk to him.
"Putin chose war, and he and his country will bear the consequences," he said.
He vowed that the United States would defend "every inch of NATO territory," but would not send troops to Ukraine.
"Our armed forces did not go to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the east," Biden said.
He indicated that he ordered the deployment of additional US forces in Germany after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Before that, Biden announced that the Group of Seven major industrialized countries had agreed during a virtual summit on Thursday to impose "devastating sanctions packages" against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Biden said in a tweet on Twitter that he discussed with the six leaders "President Putin's unprovoked attack on Ukraine and we agreed to move forward with devastating sanctions packages and other economic measures to hold Russia accountable." "We stand with the brave people of Ukraine," he added.
0 Comments