New Delhi: Russia’s decision to recognize two separatist regions in the east of Ukraine has forced the US to impose sanctions on Moscow. The US President, Joe Biden, said that “Russia will be cut off from Western financing,”
Amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, US President Joe Biden, on Tuesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognize two regions of Ukraine as ‘independent’ and subsequently ordering troops to enter Ukrainian soil is ‘the beginning of invasion’.
“We will impose sanctions on Russia far beyond previous measures. Sanctions cut Russia off from Western financing. We will impose sanctions on Russia’s elites,” Biden said. Maintaining that the US will not send its troops to Ukraine, Biden said that Washington will continue to provide defensive assistance to Ukraine.
“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called ‘countries’ on territory that belonged to his neighbors? Vladimir Putin is setting up a rationale to take more territory by force, in my view. Putin is setting up a rationale to go much further,” Biden said.
Moscow’s move in East Ukraine has prompted Europe to impose sanctions against Russia. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Russia is used to all such sanctions as they are imposed with or without reason.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyon has demanded an immediate halt to the Nord Stream 2 project. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already announced that his government is suspending the project with Russia.
(_Vinayak)
