The US doesn’t seek conflict with Russia: White House
New Delhi: The US National Security Council coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby on Tuesday said that the US administration doesn’t seek a conflict with Russia and doesn’t want hostilities in Ukraine to go nuclear.
Kirby said, “US President Joe Biden has said so before. Biden also said earlier that US troops will not set foot on Ukrainian soil,”
The official said the US doesn’t see any signs that Russia plans to use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine.
However, the US has imposed sanctions on 278 members of Russia’s parliament, for enabling the referendums to annex four regions of Ukraine. It is also targeting 14 people connected with its defense industries.
The US says it will also target organizations outside Russia that provide support for its military or its annexation of Ukrainian territory.
A new round of sanctions, drawn up by the European Commission, proposes a further ban on Russian imports. It would also ban more hi-tech goods from being exported.
Western nations are trying to limit Russia’s access to money.
The US has barred Russia from making debt payments using foreign currency held in US banks.
Major Russian banks have been removed from the international financial messaging system Swift. This has delayed payments to Russia for its oil and gas exports.
The UK has excluded key Russian banks from the UK financial system, frozen the assets of all Russian banks, barred Russian firms from borrowing money and placed limits on deposits Russians can make at UK banks.
(Vinayak)
