The United States will impose its “first tranche" of sanctions on Russia in response to what U.S. President Joe Biden said was the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine.
The measures include blocking sanctions on two Russian banks and sanctions to block Moscow’s access to Western financial institutions, Biden said, declaring that Russia's actions had violated international law.
“None of us will be fooled” by Russian President Vladimir Putin's claims about Ukraine, Biden said in a speech to the nation on February 22, adding that more sanctions could be added if Moscow continues its aggression.
"This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," Biden said, referring to Putin's stated plans to send troops beyond the regions in eastern Ukraine that Russia-backed separatists claim to control.
"He's setting up a rationale to take more territory by force," Biden said.
The two banks designated are Russia's Promsvyazbank, the bank of the armed forces, and Kremlin-controlled VEB bank, the nation's development bank. Together the two banks hold $80 billion in assets, a senior administration official said in a call with reporters after Biden announced the sanctions.
The United States also sanctioned Aleksandr Bortnikov, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB); Kremlin First Deputy Chief of Staff Sergei Kirienko; and Promsvyazbank CEO Pyotr Fradkov. Their families have also been sanctioned.
The official said that, if the invasion proceeds, Washington is ready to take further action on the largest Russian financial institutions, including Sberbank and VTB, which collectively hold almost $750 billion in assets or more than half of all assets held by Russian banks.
"This was the beginning of an invasion and this is the beginning of our response. If Putin escalates further, we will escalate further, using both financial sanctions and export controls," the senior administration official said.
Biden also said the United States would continue to supply "defensive" weapons to Ukraine and would send additional equipment and forces to the Baltics to bolster NATO forces there.
The president said the United States has no intention of fighting Russia but will defend NATO territory as it hopes to avert the worst-case scenario of a war in Europe.
"There is still time to avert the worst-case scenario that will bring untold suffering to millions of people if they move as suggested," he said. “I’m hoping diplomacy is still available.”
Biden’s speech came after the European Union unanimously agreed to impose its own initial set of sanctions against Russia over its recognition of the regions in eastern Ukraine and its decision to deploy troops there.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on February 22 that the foreign ministers of the EU nations "unanimously agreed on an initial sanctions package" during a meeting in Paris.
Le Drian told reporters that Russia had violated international law and breached its commitments.
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The sanctions will affect members of Russia’s lower house of parliament and other individuals involved in approving the deployment of Russian troops to separatist-held regions of eastern Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
The sanctions package will also affect Russia's financing of policies linked to Ukraine by limiting access to EU financial markets, he said, adding the package “will hurt Russia, and it will hurt a lot.”
Later on February 22, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced economic sanctions on Russia, calling Moscow's actions against Ukraine "completely unacceptable."
Trudeau said Canadians will be banned from engaging in purchases of Russian sovereign debt, and the country will apply additional sanctions on state-backed Russian banks and prevent any financial dealings with them.
The moves follow new sanctions imposed earlier against Moscow, including a delay in its Nord Stream 2 pipeline, in reaction to President Vladimir Putin’s move to recognize two separatist regions in Ukraine as independent states and to send troops to the territories.
Western leaders said Russia’s actions had increased the chances of a full-scale war in the middle of Europe as they moved to coordinate sanctions to punish Moscow while still attempting to persuade the Kremlin to stop short of an invasion of Ukraine.
The White House on February 22 began referring to Russian troop deployments in eastern Ukraine as an “invasion,” indicating that a red line had been crossed.
“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” said Jon Finer, principal deputy national-security adviser. “An invasion is an invasion and that is what is under way.”
Britain said earlier that it would slap sanctions on five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals in what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the “first barrage” of measures against Moscow for its actions against Ukraine.
He told Parliament that Britain still had an array of financial weapons to hit Moscow with should it intensify the crisis.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain will slap sanctions on five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals in what he called the “first barrage” of measures against Moscow for its actions against Ukraine.
"The U.K. and our allies will begin to impose the sanctions on Russia that we have already prepared using the new and unprecedented powers granted by this House to sanction Russian individuals and entities of strategic importance to the Kremlin," Johnson told Parliament on February 22.
Johnson told Parliament that Britain still had an array of financial weapons to hit Moscow with should it intensify the crisis.
"It is absolutely vital that we hold in reserve further powerful sanctions...in view of what President [Vladimir] Putin may do next," he said.
"We want to stop Russian companies from being able to raise funds in sterling or indeed in dollars.... We want them to stop raising funds on U.K. markets and we want to strip away the veil that conceals the ownership of property in this country," Johnson said.
He said that sanctions would hit Rossiya Bank, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank, and the Black Sea Bank.
Three Russian oligarchs with interests in energy and infrastructure -- Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg, and Igor Rotenberg -- will have their assets frozen and be banned from traveling to Britain, he said. The three have already been sanctioned by the United States.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country was putting the certifying process of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia via the Baltic Sea on hold in reaction to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
It has amassed more than 150,000 troops along Ukraine’s border over recent months, raising fears of an imminent invasion of its neighbor.
Moscow had denied it was planning to invade Ukraine prior to Putin’s order on February 21 to send troops into the separatist areas, saying they were needed to keep the peace and protect civilians -- claims the West quickly dismissed.