Joe Biden announced on Tuesday a “first tranche” of sanctions targeting Russia, preventing it in particular from raising Western funds to repay its sovereign debt, and also targeting banks as well as certain “elites” of the country. However, he did not mention certain measures that were expected, such as export controls or an exclusion of Russia from the international Swift system, essential for international banking exchanges. “Russia will pay a higher price if it continues its aggression, including additional sanctions,” he threatened, however.
Russia cut off from funding. “We are putting in place broad sanctions on Russian sovereign debt. This means that we are cutting off the Russian government from Western funding,” the US president said in remarks. Russia, therefore, “can no longer raise money in the west and can no longer trade its new debt in our markets or in European markets”, he said. This measure might weigh on the value of the ruble, and increase the cost for Russian consumers of imported products.
The Russian banking sector targeted. The financial sector is also targeted: “we are putting in place total blocking sanctions once morest two major Russian financial institutions, VEB (the public development bank Vnesheconombank, editor’s note) and their military bank”, he said without further ado. details. Moreover, “from tomorrow, and in the days to come, we will also impose sanctions on Russian elites and their family members. They share in the corrupt gains of Kremlin policies.”
The Northern Gas Pipeline stream 2 at a standstill. the White House host also assured that he had “worked with Germany to (ensure) that Nord Stream 2 will not move forward, as I promised”. Germany announced on Tuesday the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project linking the two countries, which had not yet been put into service. This is, said Joe Biden, a “first tranche of sanctions (…) closely coordinated with our allies and partners”.
