President Joe Biden has said that the United States will impose sanctions on Russia “far beyond” the ones that it imposed in 2014 following the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula. “This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden said in a Feb. 22 White House speech, signaling a shift in his administration’s position. “We will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates.” Russian elites and their family members will also soon face sanctions, he said, adding that “Russia will pay an even steeper price” if Moscow decides to push into Ukraine. Two Russian banks and Russian sovereign debt will also be sanctioned. Also in his speech, Biden said he would send more U.S. troops to the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—as a defensive measure to strengthen NATO’s position in the area. Russia shares a border with the Baltic states. A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin …
RSS Feed | The Epoch Times