Biden announces a new arsenal of sanctions and accuses Putin of wanting to restore the Soviet Union

“Putin is the aggressor. Now he and his country will pay the consequences, ”says the US president. The measures hit large financial institutions and limit the importation of technological products

Joe Biden assured this Thursday that Russia will pay for an invasion of Ukraine that the United States had been anticipating for months and that, despite this and the 1,000 threats of sanctions, Vladimir Putin has ended up perpetrating this Thursday .

“Putin is the aggressor. Putin has decided to start this war. Now he and his country will pay the consequences”, stressed the American leader. In coordination with the allies, he announced a new wave of sanctions , which include limitations on the importation of technological products, the blocking of the financing of public companies and large banking groups, punishments of individuals from the Russian oligarchy and new restrictions on sovereign debt. from the country. Biden vowed to make the Russian leader an “international pariah.”

The president appeared before the media at the White House shortly after meeting with the G-7 leaders, after a fateful night of bloodshed, in which Putin had announced the war on Ukraine under the euphemism of a “special military action”. ”. That he did it in the middle of a meeting of the United Nations Security Council , which, to make matters worse, is now chaired by Russia, gives a measure of the challenge and the message that he was willing to send to the West.

“Putin wants to restore the former Soviet Union. And that ambition is completely contrary to where the world is today,” Biden said. “This was never a sincere security concern, this has been an outright assault. Putin has a sinister view of the world,” she added.

The arsenal of sanctions, although deep, however excludes some more transcendental actions that were on the table, such as penalties against Putin himself or the disconnection of the SWIFT international payment system, which would have had global implications. Nor does it hit the strategic energy sector.

The president of the United States explained that the measures seek to “cause the maximum damage to Russia and the minimum in the United States and in allied countries.” He admitted, however, that the package of sanctions could have consequences in the gas and oil market – Russia is one of the world’s major suppliers – and addressed the US citizens, who go to the polls in November for the legislative elections , with this message: “This aggression cannot go unanswered. If we leave it unanswered, the consequences will be worse.” To try to counteract the blow, he advanced that the US will release more crude oil reserves.