President Joe Biden after his appearance this Thursday in Washington. Oliver Contreras / POOL (EFE)
"Swift and severe sanctions."
Those four words have been among the most repeated in Washington in recent months by diplomats, Pentagon officials, legislators and, above all, by the president of the United States.
The Joe Biden Administration has been warning since November that Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to invade Ukraine and reiterating that, when the time came, the United States had no plans to send troops to the ground.
That day has come this Thursday.
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Biden has detailed the response that he has been preparing for weeks, in collaboration with his European NATO allies, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Australia, among other countries, in two appearances from the White House.
With the first, on Tuesday, she reacted to Putin's announcement that Russia recognized the independence of the two pro-Russian territories, Lugansk and Donetsk, to the east of Ukraine, and that it was sending troops.
In the second, from a few hours ago, the US leader responds to Moscow's decision to invade Ukraine.
Three columns of troops have entered the country from Belarus to the north and Crimea to the south, heading for the capital Kiev and other major cities.
Putin's intentions and how far he will be able to go are still uncertain.
The sanctions announced this Thursday delve into those of a couple of days earlier, when Biden reserved the ability to tighten a "first battery of measures."
At the end of his appearance, the journalists asked the president for when he was keeping the letter of imposing economic measures directly on Putin (for now, he has only approached the close circle of the Russian leader by proximity).
For now, these are the concrete measures that the United States is going to adopt.
The White House, which has issued a statement to specify them, is confident that "they will have a huge impact on the Russian economy, its financial system and its access to technology."
Washington will cut the connection with the US financial system of the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, which has a third of the country's assets.
Transactions made in dollars are also prevented.
It will also impose sanctions aimed at blocking the second bank, the VTB, and three other financial institutions (Bank Otkritie, Sovcombank OJSC and Novikombank).
This implies that their assets in the United States are frozen, American citizens are prohibited from doing business with them and their access to the dollar is closed.
These measures are similar to those announced on Tuesday and which affect two other state-owned banks: the Russian Development Bank (Vnesheconombank or VEB) and the Military Bank (Promsvyazbank).
The United States also imposes new restrictions on the debt and shares of 13 of the main Russian companies and entities, including Gazprom, the RusHydro hydroelectric plant, the Agricultural Bank, the Rostelecom telephone company, and the Russian railways.
This implies putting an end to all its transactions in the international market, the provision of financing and other operations with new debt over 14 days past due.
Together, they add up to assets worth 1.4 trillion dollars, as explained by Biden.
From now on, they will also not be able to get money through the US market.
This week the consortium responsible for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, built to transport gas between Russia and Germany through the Baltic, and whose entry into operation has been suspended due to the conflict, has also been hit.
The Biden Administration will also go against individuals and their families, members of the oligarchy close to Putin and who, Washington claims, have benefited from that proximity.
They are banned from the US financial system, their assets are frozen in the United States and they are prevented from entering the country.
The 10 names released today are added to the five listed in the first battery of sanctions.
Biden has also prohibited the importation of defense technology, as well as semiconductors, telecommunications equipment, encryption, lasers, sensors and other devices used in sea and air transport.
These measures, which are expected to take a long time, aim to cut off Russia's and its citizens' access to the latest technological advances.
The export of military and computer equipment to the Russian Armed Forces and the Russian Ministry of Defense is also prohibited.
The United States also contemplates passing the bill for the invasion of Ukraine to Belarus, a neighbor to the north, and an ally of the Kremlin.
Two thirds of the troops that have entered the country this Thursday have done so from Belarusian soil.
The United States sanctions 24 individuals and entities, attacking their military and financial capacity.
Among those names are two state banks, nine defense companies and seven officials and people associated with the Minsk regime.
The restrictions on exports decided by the allies jointly seek to cause damage estimated at 50,000 million dollars (44,640 million euros).
In addition, measures have been designed to amplify its scope, which include providing facilities to countries that want to join that boycott.
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