Biden unveils additional sanctions over Russian attack

(NewsNation Now) — President Joe Biden announced a host of additional sanctions Thursday to punish Russia for what he called “a premeditated attack” on Ukraine.

The sanctions at a glance:

• Aim to cut Russia off from the U.S.’s financial markets.
• Freezes assets of major Russian banks.
• Will cut off an estimated 50% of Russia’s high tech imports. 
• Sanctioning specific “Russian elites and family members.”
• Deploying additional troops to Germany to support NATO allies.
• U.S. will respond to any cyberattacks against U.S. companies.

“We saw flagrant violations of international law,” Biden said. “Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

The new package of sanctions aims to cut Russia off from U.S. financial markets and includes freezing the assets of four major Russian banks, including VTB Bank, the nation’s second-biggest bank, Biden said Thursday.

Speaking at the White House, Biden also announced sweeping export restrictions that would limit Russia’s ability to do business.

New export control measures could halt more than 50% of high-tech imports into Russia and severely limit its access to global exports of everything from commercial electronics and computers to semiconductors and aircraft parts.

Biden said, it will “strike a blow” to Russia’s aims to modernize its military, its vaunted aerospace industry, its space program, shipping and other industry.

“It’s going to be a cold day for Russia,” Biden said.

Biden also acted to sanction several additional Russian oligarchs and elites, which cuts them off from the U.S. financial system, freezes any assets they hold in the U.S. and blocks their travel to the United States.

In light of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Biden also announced the deployment of additional U.S. troops to Germany to bolster NATO forces.

Some 7,000 service members from the 4th Infantry Division and the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team are slated to come from Fort Carson in Colorado, a senior defense official told NewsNation.

Biden has made clear that the U.S. would go after Russia financially, not militarily. The goal is to make Moscow pay so high a price that the Kremlin will change course.

“Our forces are not and will not be engaged in the conflict with Russia in Ukraine,” Biden said.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s health minister said at least fifty-seven Ukrainians have been killed as a result of the Russian invasion, and 169 more are wounded.

Earlier this week, Biden announced a first round of heavy financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs within Putin’s inner circle, declaring that Moscow had violated international law.

Biden, for now, has held off imposing some of the most severe sanctions, including cutting Russia out of the SWIFT payment system, which allows for the transfers of money from bank to bank around the globe, or Russia’s energy sector.

Biden spoke Thursday hours after holding a virtual meeting with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Italy and Japan. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also joined the meeting.

World leaders condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “barbaric” and moved to slap heavy economic sanctions on Moscow, President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and many of the country’s oligarchs.

Britain said on Thursday it would also sanction several Russian oligarchs and elites including Putin’s former son-in-law Kirill Shamalov in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a round of financial restrictions and export controls. In addition, Britain also prohibited Russia’s flagship airline, Aeroflot, from landing at British airports.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatened to hit the Russian elites with “massive and targeted sanctions,” saying she would put to EU leaders late Thursday a proposal that would target strategic sectors of the Russian economy by blocking access to key technologies and markets.

She said the sanctions, if approved, “will weaken Russia’s economic base and its capacity to modernize. And in addition, we will freeze Russian assets in the European Union and stop the access of Russian banks to European financial markets.”

“We want to cut off Russia’s industry from the technologies desperately needed today to build the future,” von der Leyen said.

The consequences of the conflict and resulting sanctions on Russia started reverberating throughout the world.

Stocks tumbled worldwide Thursday after Russia’s attack sent fear coursing through markets and upped the pressure on the high inflation already affecting people and businesses around the world.

The S&P 500 sank 1.6% to continue its dismal early-year results. It’s now down almost 14% from the record high it set in early January.

European markets sank even more, with the German DAX down nearly 5%. Bond yields fell as investors sought safety and the price of oil soared toward $100 a barrel. The conflict could send prices spiraling even higher at gasoline pumps and grocery stores everywhere.

Moscow’s stock exchange briefly suspended trading on all its markets on Thursday morning. After trading resumed, the ruble-denominated MOEX stock index tumbled more than 20% and the dollar-denominated RTS index plunged by more than one-third.

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, NewsNation will bring Americans the latest developments from abroad and insights into its impact at home throughout our newscasts. We’re dropping the paywall on our live stream so it’s available to everyone. You can watch NewsNation’s programming, including the latest on Ukraine, at the top of the hour from 7 to 10 a.m. and 5 to 11 p.m. ET.