(Washington) Deal a terrible blow to finance and the Russian economy, while Vladimir Putin will be relegated to the rank of “pariah” on the international scene: Joe Biden on Thursday defended an arsenal of sanctions developed by the United States. United and their allies in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Posted at 9:05 a.m.
Updated at 3:24 p.m.
These economic and financial reprisals “exceed anything that has ever been done”, argued the American president during a highly anticipated televised address from the White House.
He assured Thursday that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, after launching the invasion of Ukraine, would become “a pariah on the international scene”, and specified “not planning to speak” with him.
The Russian military offensive “has never had any real security reason”, he denounced. “It was always about pure aggression, about Putin’s desire to build an empire, by any means necessary. »
The 79-year-old Democrat detailed the response, especially economic, from Westerners.
Joe Biden has indeed recalled that there was no question of sending American troops to Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO.
On the other hand, he promised once again to defend “the least inch of territory” of the military alliance. The Pentagon also announced in the process the dispatch of some 7,000 additional soldiers to Germany.
PHOTO ALEX BRANDON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joe Biden
Banks, oligarchs, exports
With the sanctions announced Thursday, it is a question of drying up in the short term the flow of financing from Russia and of compromising its technological and military development in the long term, while jostling the extremely wealthy Russian oligarchs.
Now, the ten largest Russian financial institutions find themselves targeted by Western sanctions, which compromises their access to international financial markets and to transactions in dollars, the queen currency of globalization.
The United States is attacking in particular the two largest banks in Russia, Sberbank and VTB Bank, so far spared.
Joe Biden also announced that several large Russian companies – 13 in total – could no longer finance themselves on the American financial market, a sanction which had already been taken against the Russian government itself.
The United States has also extended the list of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, a way of tapping into the wallet the large fortunes close to Vladimir Putin, fond of investments and extravagant expenses abroad.
Finally, Washington and its allies intend to drastically restrict imports of technological products by Russia, at the very moment when the latter, which is very dependent on its hydrocarbon exports, is seeking to diversify its economy.
“More than half” of Russian technological imports will be blocked, promised Joe Biden, which according to the White House must also complicate Russia’s military development.
The American president acknowledged that it “would take time” for the sanctions, the prospect of which did not deter Vladimir Putin from taking action, to take effect.
But the American president was also questioned bluntly by journalists about the sanctions that Westerners have not taken.
He assured Thursday that cutting Russia off from the Swift interbank network, an essential cog in global finance, remained “an option”. But he acknowledged that such a decision, demanded by Ukraine, was not supported by the Europeans.
The American president, who has already publicly mentioned the possibility of sanctioning Vladimir Putin himself, has also declared that this project remains valid. But without explaining why he hadn’t already taken action.