On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced a new round of financial penalties against Russia, which he claims will have a long-term impact on the country’s economy.
As the allies went forward with an expanding effort to tighten the economic screws on Russian President Vladimir Putin for “war crimes” in Ukraine, the United Kingdom rapidly followed suit, and the European Union added to the suffering.
The US sanctions targeted Putin’s family, including his two adult daughters, as well as two significant Russian banks, making it personal.
After Russia’s forces were forced back from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Biden declared that “Russia has already failed in their initial war.” However, he stressed that “this fight is far from done.”
“This battle could drag on for a long time,” Biden warned, adding that the US will continue to support Ukraine and Ukrainians in their fight for independence. “For years to come, we’re going to suffocate Russia’s potential to grow.”
The latest restrictions highlight Russia’s financial hardship, as evidence that its troops killed Ukrainian civilians has prompted the US and its Western partners to impose ever-tougher sanctions, diminishing Putin’s ability to fight.
While rising sanctions have not pushed Putin to leave the war, they have placed Russia in increasingly dire economic straits as Ukrainian soldiers stand firm against his assaults. The United States and European nations have been critical of the sanctions’ success. And the crimes in Ukraine have increased pressure on Germany and other countries to join the United States and Lithuania in banning all Russian energy exports.
On Wednesday, the United Kingdom added on with asset freezes on big banks, a ban on British investment in Russia, and a promise to reduce reliance on Russian coal and oil by the end of the year.
Following recent evidence of crimes emerging in the aftermath of Russian forces retreating from the town of Bucha, the European Union was expected to take more steps, including a restriction on new investment in Russia and a coal embargo.
Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, two of Russia’s major banks, were sanctioned by the US, preventing assets from entering the US financial system and restricting Americans from doing business with them.
In addition to sanctions against Putin’s adult daughters, Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, the United States is targeting Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s wife, and children, and members of Russia’s Security Council, including former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
All of Putin’s close family members have been cut off from the US financial system, and any assets they have in the US have been frozen.
Biden was anticipated to sign an executive order prohibiting Americans from making new investments in Russia, regardless of where they live. According to the White House, the US Treasury Department was contemplating further penalties against Russian state-owned firms.
Asset restrictions were ordered for Sberbank and the Credit Bank of Moscow, as well as eight Russian oligarchs whom Britain claims Putin “uses to prop up his war economy.”
“We are showing the Russian elite, together with our partners, that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities carried out on Putin’s instructions,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.
Britain had already stated its intention to phase out Russian oil, which accounts for 8% of the country’s supply. Russia is the top importer of coal to the United Kingdom, despite a drop in demand for the polluting fuel in the last decade.
Britain has not yet stopped importing Russian natural gas, which accounts for 4% of its total supply, but has promised to do so “as soon as practicable.”
Videos and photographs of bodies in the streets of Bucha after it was regained from Russian forces have sparked outrage among Western allies, prompting the imposition of fresh sanctions.
The proposed embargo on coal imports by the European Commission would be the first EU penalty aimed at Russia’s wealthy energy sector.
Energy is crucial to Putin’s war budgets, according to EU foreign affairs director Josep Borrell. Russia has benefited by being able to sell its natural gas and oil to the rest of the world as prices have risen as a result of the war.
“We pay Putin a billion euros per day for the energy he has provided us since the beginning of the war.” He has received 35 billion euros from us. “Compare that to the one billion dollars in weaponry and weapons that we have sent to Ukraine,” Borrell remarked.
The continual tightening of sanctions is more an indication of increasing pressure on Russia as it seeks international investment and basic supplies, according to Brian Deese, head of the White House National Economic Council, who spoke to reporters at a brunch on Wednesday. “We need patience and perspective when it comes to the effects of this unprecedented and crippling sanctions regime on Russia,” Deese said at a Christian Science Monitor-sponsored event.
According to Deese, Russian inflation is running at 2% weekly, resulting in yearly inflation of more than 200 percent. According to him, the Biden administration does not expect Russian prices to grow more than 200 percent this year.
While the White House has stated that Russia should not attend the G-20 summit in Indonesia this November, he also stated that Russia may withdraw from the organization due to its drastic economic shrinkage.
Following the expulsion of Russian diplomats by numerous European nations, the European Commission suggested the fifth set of measures, including a ban on coal imports, which may be implemented once the 27-nation bloc’s ambassadors unanimously accept it.
The coal ban is worth 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) per year, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU has already begun working on other measures, notably on oil imports.
She didn’t mention natural gas, despite the fact that reaching an agreement among the EU’s 27 member states on how to target the fuel used to generate power and heat homes is tough because of objections from gas-dependent countries such as Germany, the bloc’s largest economy.
However, European Council President Charles Michel said the EU should keep up the pressure on Russia, warning that an embargo on gas imports may be necessary for the future.
“A restriction on coal imports is part of the new deal,” Michel stated on Wednesday. “I believe that, sooner or later, oil and gas-related actions will be required.”
