President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States and its partners will announce a new set of sanctions against Russia for its war against Ukraine.
Delivering an address in Warsaw, Poland, days out from the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Biden previewed how the West will add to the long list of penalties already levied against Russia.
“Together we have made sure that Russia is paying the price for its abuses,” Biden said. “We continue to maintain the largest sanctions regime ever imposed on any country in history. And we’re going to announce more sanctions this week together with our partners.”
US to announce more sanctions on Russia this week, Biden says.
He says they will "hold accountable those responsible for this war".
Biden adds he will host NATO at a summit in the US next year.
"An attack against one is an attack against all".
https://t.co/IvtvkPHwrh pic.twitter.com/C2A0oKLr0t
— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 21, 2023
The United States and several of its allies have instituted waves of sanctions in the past year, including those aimed at Russia’s energy and financial sectors.
“While we have far more to do, we are succeeding in reversing the course of Russia’s budget and undercutting its military-industrial complex,” said Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo during an event in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
During his speech in Warsaw, Biden did not get into specifics of what the new sanctions will be, but he did allude to Vice President Kamala Harris declaring over the weekend in Germany that the U.S. government determined Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
“We’ll hold accountable those who are responsible for this war,” Biden said. “And we will seek justice for the war crimes and crimes against humanity continuing to be committed by the Russians.”
In addition, Biden talked about plans for a 2024 NATO summit in the United States to mark its 75th anniversary. NATO is more “united and more unified than ever before,” he said.
Biden also delivered a message to the Russian people, urging them to reject Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that the West started the war in Ukraine and threatens Russia’s very existence.
During his state-of-the nation address to Russia’s National Assembly on Tuesday, Putin claimed Ukraine’s “Western masters” have “started the war. And we are using force to end it.”
“They intend to transform a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation,” Putin also said. “This is exactly how we understand it all and we will react accordingly, because in this case we are talking about the existence of our country.”
Hours later in Warsaw, after a surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, Biden cast Putin as a weakened autocrat who is spinning a lie about the West planning a takeover of Russia in a desperate bid to cling onto power in the face of strong democracies.
“I speak once more to the people of Russia,” Biden said. “The United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today. And millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy. This war was never a necessity. It’s a tragedy.”
Pres. Biden makes remarks from Poland: "I speak once more to the people of Russia: The U.S. and nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today…This war was never a necessity. It's a tragedy." pic.twitter.com/BBU6wGZXG4
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 21, 2023
Both world leaders vowed not to back down nearly one year after Russia began what Moscow called a “special military operation” in Ukraine to stomp out threats on its border.
“Step by step, we will carefully and systematically achieve [our] aims,” Putin said during his address Tuesday, according to The Moscow Times. He said Russia would suspend its participation in the last-remaining nuclear treaty with the United States.
Just how visible Putin’s speech was to the people of Russia remains unclear. His remarks appear to have been blacked out on online state TV due to what the state-run RIA Novosti news agency claimed was a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, according to Daily Mail.
During the conflict in Ukraine, the United States has committed tens of billions of dollars in aid to the Ukrainians in their fight to maintain its independence. While in Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden pledged another $500 million in military assistance.
While speaking in Warsaw, Biden promised, “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never.”