West punishes Moscow for escalation in Ukraine crisis

Created: 02/23/2022, 04:55 am

Chancellor Olaf Scholz stopped the approval process for the Nord Stream 2 project. © John Macdougall/AFP-Pool/dpa

The reaction to Putin's decision came promptly: both the EU and the USA are launching the first sanctions and are threatening more.

Moscow is also feeling the consequences on other levels.

Washington/Brussels/Moscow - The United States and Europe have responded to Moscow's recent escalation in the Ukraine crisis with a package of penalties.

The European Union decided on sanctions against Russia, which should come into force this Wednesday.

Given the situation, the US is moving additional soldiers and equipment to Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in turn, announced in a video message that reservists would be partially mobilized.

Despite major international protests, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and ordered the deployment of Russian soldiers.

The Kremlin chief is planning an invasion of Ukraine for the second time since 2014.

The West accuses Putin of violating international law.

According to Western sources, Russia has gathered about 150,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine.

Far-reaching sanctions

After Putin's decision, the EU and the USA immediately launched far-reaching sanctions against Russia.

The new EU sanctions include putting those 351 members of the Russian parliament on the sanctions list who voted to recognize the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.

There are also penalties against 27 other people and organizations.

In addition, the Russian state's access to the EU financial markets is to be curtailed and the EU's trade with the breakaway regions is to be restricted.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has welcomed the agreement on a new package of sanctions against Russia.

© Johanna Geron/Pool Reuters/AP/dpa

For the time being, no EU sanctions have been imposed on Putin personally, as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell confirmed after a special meeting of EU foreign ministers in Paris.

This was decided in order to have further measures in reserve.

The US government announced sanctions against two major Russian banks, against the trading of Russian government bonds and against supporters of Putin and their families.

US President Joe Biden stressed that the US was prepared to take even tougher punitive measures if Russia continued to press ahead with its crackdown on Ukraine.

A US government official said that "no Russian financial institution is safe" in this case.

Export controls could also follow.

An exclusion of Russia from the international payment system Swift is still possible in the event of an escalation.

Britain and Canada also announced punitive measures against Russia.

The federal government, in turn, put the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline on hold for the time being, which means that Putin can write off billion-dollar deals for the time being.

Germany halts Nord Stream 2

Nord Stream 2 was stopped specifically because the traffic light federal government withdrew a report from the black-red predecessor government to the Federal Network Agency.

This involves an analysis of the security of supply.

"That sounds technical, but it is the necessary administrative step so that the pipeline cannot be certified now," said Scholz.

Without these, Nord Stream 2 cannot go into operation.

The process is now "taking a new course," said the Chancellor: "It will certainly take a long time, if I may say so."

Scholz considers it quite possible that the gas pipeline, which has been temporarily stopped, will never go into operation.

"In any case, this is a situation in which nobody should bet on it," he said on ARD.

"We're a long way from that now." The SPD politician made a similar statement on this question on ZDF.

The US government welcomed the move.

Biden has made it clear that the pipeline should not be put into operation in the event of a Russian attack on Ukraine, his spokeswoman said on Twitter.

"We coordinated closely with Germany during the night and welcome the announcement."

USA and Russia: No face-to-face meetings for the time being

The Americans also declared that planned high-level diplomatic talks with the Russian government were lapsed for the time being.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a meeting planned for Thursday in Geneva with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov.

The US government is in principle still ready for diplomatic talks.

But the Russian government must show that it is serious.

more on the subject

No breakthrough in Biden-Putin call

Ukraine crisis: Ambassador calls for a rethink – and leadership from Scholz

Ukraine escalation: Biden sends US soldiers - now Scholz intervenes and travels to Putin in Moscow

A personal meeting between Biden and Putin had also been discussed in the past few days.

Blinken and Lavrov's meeting should have served as preparation.

A direct meeting between Biden and Putin is now off the table, as White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Now, with Putin pushing ahead with the invasion of a sovereign country, is not the right time for such a meeting, she said.

US President Joe Biden addresses the situation in Ukraine in the East Room of the White House.

© Alex Brandon/AP/dpa

Biden continues to expect a large-scale attack by Russia on the neighboring country.

"We continue to believe that Russia is ready to go significantly further and launch a massive military strike against Ukraine," Trump said in the White House.

He described Moscow's recognition of the so-called People's Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk and the planned deployment of Russian troops there as "the beginning of an invasion".

Putin provides "a justification for the violent capture of further areas".

Blinking: "Ukraine is in danger"

For weeks, the US government had been warning of a Russian invasion and was accused of spreading alarmism and only fueling the situation.

Now the Biden government feels confirmed in its course.

Referring to Putin, Blinken said: "His plan from the beginning was to invade Ukraine to control Ukraine and its people, to destroy Ukrainian democracy (...) to retake Ukraine as part of Russia." Blinken described Moscow's actions as "the greatest threat to security in Europe since the Second World War".

Putin is violently breaking the laws and principles that have kept peace in Europe and around the world for decades.

"Ukraine is in danger." dpa