Biden announces the first round of sanctions against Russia and the sending of additional forces to the Baltic states

Foto: AP/Scanpix/LETA

US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the Kremlin’s decision to recognize the “independence” of the occupied Dondas was the start of an attack on Ukraine, to which Washington would respond with a first package of sanctions.

Biden also reported on sending additional army forces to the Baltic states.

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Sanctions will be targeted at Russia’s national debt, members of the Russian elite and their families, the state-owned investment bank VEB.RF and the “army bank”.

“We are imposing sanctions on Russia’s national debt. this means that we are returning the Russian government from Western funding, ”said Biden. “It will no longer be able to receive money from the West and will not be able to trade its new bonds in our market or in the European market.”

The US president added that if Russia continued to escalate, the sanctions would be tightened.

However, Washington’s response to Russia’s actions does not appear to be as far-reaching as expected.

Only two Russian financial institutions are subject to sanctions, and Russia is clearly not being disconnected from the much-talked-about global banking system SWIFT.

Biden also did not announce the introduction of export controls that would deny Russian companies access to modern information technology.

The host of the White House also announced at a press conference that the United States will continue to supply Ukraine with defense weapons and will send additional US forces to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.

“I have confirmed an additional US force in Europe and [militārās] relocation of equipment to strengthen our allies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, ”said Biden.

Minister of Defense of Latvia Artis Pabriks (AP) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs (JV) have expressed satisfaction with Baiden’s announcement on the microblogging site Twitter.

Rinkēvičs writes that he appreciates Baiden’s decision to deploy additional forces in the Baltics, including Latvia. This will strengthen “our security and be a clear counter to the aggressor Russia”.

Pabriks writes that the United States will send an additional contingent of soldiers and equipment to Latvia at Latvia’s request.

LETA has already written that since 2014, the US Armed Forces have been on a rotating basis in the Baltic States during the training operation “Atlantic Resolve”.

Meanwhile, from February 18 to March 23, the international military exercise “Saber Strike 22” led by the US Armed Forces Command in Europe will take place in the territory of Latvia.

About 400 US soldiers and about 100 technical units have arrived in Latvia, as well as 22 combat helicopters “AH-64 Apache”.

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