President Joe Biden announced a wave of “firm” sanctions against Russia and its most powerful citizens on Tuesday, calling the Kremlin’s deployment of military forces in the region “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
“I’m going to begin to impose sanctions in response far beyond the steps we and our allies and partners implemented in 2014,” Biden said on Tuesday, speaking from the East Room of the White House. “And if Russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further.”
The long-promised sanctions come as the rapidly escalating crisis in Ukraine grows near to a full-scale Russian invasion of the country, and as nations across the west have announced economic measures intended to pressure Russia into pulling back from a conflict that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned could kill hundreds of thousands of people.
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The first round of sanctions could include provisions to effectively cut Russia off from international financing and restrict Russia from trading on its debt in western markets. Another set of sanctions are aimed at Russian elites and are intended to prevent their ability to travel and transfer their wealth into western financial institutions.
“As Russia contemplates this next move, we have our next move prepared as well—Russia will pay an even steeper price if it continues its aggression,” Biden said, promising additional sanctions in the future if Russian President Vladimir Putin moves to take Ukraine by force.
“None of us will be fooled,” Biden said. “There is no justification. Further Russian assault in Ukraine remains a severe threat in the days ahead, and if Russia proceeds, it is Russia and Russia alone that bears the responsibility.”
Among those sanctioned are members of Putin’s elite circles, including Alexander Bortnikov, the director of Russia’s successor to the KGB, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and his son Denis, a senior administration official said on a call with reporters Tuesday. The U.S. government is also sanctioning the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergei Kiriyenko, and his son Vladimir, as well as Promsvyazbank CEO Pyotr Fradkov.
These initial measures are the first of what the administration has promised would be many waves of sanctions if Russia escalates the conflict.
The U.S. sanctions come just after Germany’s decision to halt certification of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, British sanctions against members of the Russian Federal Assembly who voted in favor of recognizing the independence of two separatist regions of Ukraine, and a move by the European Union to prevent Russia from raising capital in its financial markets.
“We’ve always envisioned waves of sanctions that would unfold over time in response to steps Russia actually takes, not just statements that they make,” deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told CNN on Tuesday morning ahead of Biden’s remarks. “We’ve always said we’re going to watch the situation on the ground and have a swift and severe response.”
But it remains unclear what action by Putin would invoke the next series of economic sanctions—particularly after the White House wobbled in the wake of Putin’s independence recognition over the holiday weekend. During a call with reporters on Monday evening, a senior administration official repeatedly pushed back on the suggestion that Russian military activity in the separatist regions amounted to an invasion.
“We will observe and assess what actions Russia actually takes and respond accordingly,” the official said multiple times on the call, noting that Russian troops had been present in Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions whose independence Putin recognized on Monday,
By Tuesday morning, however, the administration’s view of the situation had changed.
“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” Finer said.
The sanctions—and the acknowledgment of an invasion, however nascent—come as many of Biden’s allies and opponents on Capitol Hill have called for an aggressive response to the Russian incursions into Ukraine.
“The time for taking action to impose significant costs on President Putin and the Kremlin starts now,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a close friend of the president’s, said in response to the independence acknowledgment.
Additional reporting by Shannon Vavra
