President Joe Biden delivered stern remarks on Russia‘s “unprovoked and unjustified” attack on Ukraine during an address at the White House Thursday afternoon.
Biden laid out additional sanctions during the address, including locking out Russia and Russian citizens from global financial systems.
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“This is a dangerous moment for all of Europe, for freedom around the world. Putin has committed an assault on the very principles that hold up global peace,” said Biden. “This was never about a genuine security concern on their part. It was always about naked aggression, about Putin’s desire for empire by any means necessary.”
Biden and other Western leaders have condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for announcing a “special military operation” within Ukraine. He previously described Putin’s decision as “a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.”
The president has vowed that the United States, its allies, and its partners will respond in a united and decisive way, adamant that “Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction” wrought by the offensive. Earlier on Thursday, the president met with his G-7 counterparts, and he held a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky late Wednesday.
The nations opposing Russia’s actions represent more than half of the global economy, Biden said, and Russians will not be able to deal in U.S. dollars, Euros, Pounds or Yen for the foreseeable future. The Russian ruble is at its weakest level ever.
Other sanctions include cutting off the five largest Russian banks, which together hold $1 trillion in assets, from the U.S. financial system. Individual “Russian elites” and their families will be sanctioned as well.
The U.S. will cut off Russia’s largest state-owned enterprises, along with more than half of the country’s high-tech imports, which Biden predicted would slowly erode Putin’s economic and military goals over time.
Biden said Putin will be “a pariah on the international stage” going forward, as will anyone associated with him.
“Putin is the aggressor,” the president said. “Putin chose this war. And now, he and his country will face the consequences.”
American troops stationed in Europe will head to the eastern flank of NATO, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, while new troops will move into Germany, though Biden reiterated that troops will not enter Ukraine, which is not part of the defensive alliance.
In a televised appearance Wednesday, Putin said the special military operation’s aim is to “demilitarize” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine but not occupy it. Days earlier, he recognized two Russian-backed separatist regions in Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk.
The next morning, Putin delivered a speech at 6 a.m. Moscow time explaining to the Russian public how troops and other military assets would penetrate Ukraine beyond the disputed Donbas region. That speech was quickly followed by local reports of explosions near Kyiv and Russian aircraft flying overhead in the Ukrainian capital.
Questions remain about the manner in which the Biden administration rolled out its first round of sanctions. Instead of immediately starting with a “maximum pressure” campaign as previously promised, the administration opted to sanction portions of the Russian financial system, select members of Putin’s inner circle of advisers, some of whom were already on U.S. sanctions lists, and block future investments in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two Ukrainian separatist regions unilaterally recognized by Russia.
Earlier in the day, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid out what he called the country’s “largest-ever” economic sanctions against Russia. The moves include an effort to end Russia’s use of the Swift system of international payments, freezing the assets of all Russian banks, restricting cash held by Russians in U.K. banks, and sanctioning more than 100 people and entities. Russian airline Aeroflot will not be allowed to land in Britain. Many of the same sanctions will be leveled against Belarus.
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“The good news is, NATO is more united and more determined than ever,” Biden said.
