Push Admin

Biden says Russian ‘invasion’ of Ukraine is ‘beginning’

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="US President Joe Biden provides an update on Russia and Ukraine during remarks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, US, February 22, 2022. Kevin Lamarque, Reuters" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/reuters/02/22/20220222_ukraine-crisis-usa-biden.jpg"/><figcaption>US President Joe Biden provides an update on Russia and Ukraine during remarks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, US, February 22, 2022. <em>Kevin Lamarque, Reuters</em></figcaption></figure></div><h3>‘First tranche’ of sanctions on Russia announced, including on debt</h3><p>US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Russia has begun to invade Ukraine but that there was still time for diplomacy to avoid the &quot;worst case scenario&quot; of a full-blown assault on the country.</p><p>&quot;This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,&quot; the US leader said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin&#x27;s declared plans to send troops deep into the Donbas region in southeast Ukraine. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/02/23/22/us-wants-to-avoid-further-conflict-pentagon-chief">US seeking way ‘to avoid further conflict’ in Ukraine: Pentagon chief</a></li></ul><p>&quot;He&#x27;s setting up a rationale to take more territory by force,&quot; Biden said in a nationwide address from the White House.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/02/23/22/oil-nears-100-as-west-prepares-russian-sanctions">Oil nears $100, as West prepares Russian sanctions</a></li></ul><p>&quot;And if we listened to his speech last night... he&#x27;s setting up a rationale to go much further,&quot; Biden said.</p><p>Biden announced more sanctions targeting Russian finances and political elite, in hopes that the pressure will deter a wholesale invasion.</p><p>He said that the United States would continue to supply &quot;defensive&quot; weapons to Ukraine and deploy more US troops to reinforce NATO allies in Eastern Europe.</p><p>But he suggested that diplomatic talks could stem a worsening of the crisis, one of the deepest in Europe since World War II.</p><p>&quot;There&#x27;s no question that Russia is the aggressor, so we&#x27;re clear-eyed about the challenges we&#x27;re facing,&quot; Biden said.</p><p>&quot;Nonetheless, there is still time to avert the worst case scenario that will bring untold suffering to millions of people if they move as suggested,&quot; he said.</p><div><strong>‘FIRST TRANCHE’ OF SANCTIONS</strong></div><p>Biden, meanwhile, announced the &quot;first tranche&quot; of sanctions against Russia, including steps to starve the country of financing, saying Moscow had started an invasion of Ukraine.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/02/23/22/nato-russia-readying-for-full-scale-attack-on-ukraine">NATO warns Russia readying for ‘full-scale attack’ on Ukraine</a></li></ul><p>And Biden threatened tougher steps if Russia &quot;continues its aggression.&quot;</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;re implementing sanctions on Russia&#x27;s sovereign debt. That means we&#x27;ve cut off Russia&#x27;s government from Western financing,&quot; Biden said.</p><p>&quot;It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either.&quot;</p><p>The measures also target VEB, Russia&#x27;s state development bank, and members of the country&#x27;s &quot;elites,&quot; the US leader said.</p><p>&quot;They share the corrupt gains of the Kremlin policies, and should share in the pain as well.&quot;</p><p>The announcement came after the European Union unveiled its own sanctions in a coordinated Western effort to pressure Russian leader Vladimir Putin.</p><p>Biden said the responses &quot;have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners&quot; and added, &quot;We&#x27;ll continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates.&quot;</p><p>However, Washington&#x27;s response did not seem to go as far as the European Union, nor as far as some expected.</p><p>Biden announced &quot;full blocking sanctions&quot; on both VEB and Russia&#x27;s &quot;military bank,&quot; which likely means the institutions will have their foreign assets frozen and will be prohibited from using the US financial system.</p><p>However, the penalties cover fewer financial institutions, and do not appear to have severed the country from the SWIFT system used to move money around the globe.</p><p>Nor did Biden resort to export controls, which would have cut Russian firms off from key high-tech equipment and software, which some analysts said was a possibility.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1929828" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Russia has begun to invade Ukraine and plans to go much further than he had previously indicated.