President Biden Announces Technology Export Controls, Bank Sanctions Against Russia

President Joe Biden announced the U.S. volition frost Russian fiscal assets, prehend assets from high-ranking officials and artifact exertion exports successful effect to Russia's penetration of Ukraine.

Announcing the sanctions successful a nationalist code Thursday, Biden joined numerous countries worldwide successful penalizing Russia hours aft the state began firing cruise missiles and sending troops into Ukraine.

The sanctions announced Thursday see exertion export controls to bounds Russia's quality to enactment connected its aerospace, ship-building and different industries; freezing assets belonging to Russia's largest banks and freezing assets belonging to "Russian elites" and their household members. Biden said Thursday's sanctions could chopped disconnected much than fractional of Russia's "high-tech" imports.

The U.S. volition frost assets astatine Russia's largest banks kept successful the U.S., including VTB Bank, a state-owned entity and Russia's second-largest bank, arsenic good arsenic Sberbank. Similarly, the U.K. announced earlier connected Thursday it would frost immoderate British-based assets belonging to VTB. The European Union is likewise freezing Russian assets and blocking slope entree to European fiscal markets.

A U.S. Treasury Department property merchandise said Thursday's actions would "fundamentally alter" these banks' quality to behaviour operations.

"On a regular basis, Russian fiscal institutions behaviour astir $46 cardinal worthy of overseas speech transactions globally, 80% of which are successful U.S. dollars. The immense bulk of those transactions volition present beryllium disrupted," the merchandise said.

State-owned entities volition besides beryllium blocked from indebtedness markets successful the U.S.

Biden added the U.S., EU and different nations volition coordinate to effort to bounds Russia's quality to transact with euros, dollars, pounds oregon yen. Biden met with leaders of the G7 earlier successful the day.

The U.S. is besides sanctioning Belarusian defence and fiscal entities owed to their relation successful supporting Russia's invasion, according to a abstracted Treasury Dept. property release.

The U.S. volition not effort to expel Russia from the Swift planetary messaging web astatine this time. The Belgium-based enactment underpins fiscal transactions betwixt banks successful antithetic countries, processing adjacent to $77 trillion successful payments successful 2019.

In effect to a reporter's question, Biden said the sanctions announced Thursday mightiness person much of an interaction than kicking Russia retired of Swift.

"The sanctions that we projected connected each their banks person adjacent consequence, possibly much effect than Swift," helium said. "It's ever an enactment but it's not the presumption the remainder of Europe wants to take."

Biden appeared to beryllium referring to Germany and Italy, 2 cardinal holdouts reportedly not yet successful favor of taking this step. The EU would person to motion disconnected connected immoderate expulsion. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced enactment for removing Russia from the network.

The U.S. president slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin successful his remarks.

"This was ne'er astir information concerns connected their part," helium said. "This was astir bare aggression."

UPDATE (Feb. 24, 2022, 19:50 UTC): Adds further information.

UPDATE (Feb. 24, 2022, 20:50 UTC): Adds further accusation astir EU sanctions.