The president of United States, Joe Bidenannounced on Tuesday a “first round” of sanctions that will cut Russia of Western financing and hit the “Russian elites” as well as the financial institutions.
“We are implementing sanctions on the sovereign debt of Russia. This means we cut off the Russian government from Western funding,” Biden said at the White House.
The US president considered that Russia’s recognition of the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk is “the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine” and threatened the Kremlin with “going further with sanctions” if it continues along these lines.
Biden said that by deciding to recognize the independence of these two pro-Russian regions, President Vladimir Putin “is creating a reason to seize more territory by force … he is creating a reason to go much further. This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he ventured.
“I have authorized new deployments of US forces and equipment, already positioned in Europe, to reinforce our Baltic allies, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,” the president added, but recalled that the United States does not lose hope of finding a diplomatic solution.
In this situation, Biden promised that the United States will not only provide more military support to Ukraine after Putin has directly attacked their “right to exist”, but will also strengthen their Baltic allies.
“We have no intention of fighting Russia. However, we want to send an unequivocal message: that the United States and its allies will defend every inch of the territory of the NATO and they will honor their commitments,” said Biden, who also called Russia’s demands during the negotiations “extreme.”
“There is still time to avoid the worst scenario,” the US president said in his speech.
“The United States and its allies remain open to diplomacy if it is serious. We will judge Russia by its actions, not its words. We are ready to respond to Russia with unity, clarity and conviction whatever you do”.
Putin recognized on Monday the independence of the troubled Donetsk and Lugansk regions, and hours later ordered the entry of the Russian Armed Forces into them as part of a “peacekeeping mission”, decisions harshly criticized by most the international community.
The ukrainian government put the death toll in eight years of conflict in the country’s east on Monday at 14,000, before adding that at least 30,000 people have been injured, while 1.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes in Crimea and Donbas. to escape the Russian “occupation” of the territory of Ukraine.
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