What is it this time? Biden announces new sanctions against Russia

11.03.2022, Moscow.

US President Joe Biden announced a series of new sanctions against Russia during a press conference. Biden’s speech lasted only about eight minutes, but there was much said.

First of all, Biden said that the new sanctions would be imposed collectively, by the G7 countries as well as the European Union. All allied countries must take the same steps.

Revoke the permanent normal trade relations. That is, if countries have been committed to applying the lowest duties, the minimum trade restrictions and the largest import quotas to trade with each other, they must abandon it from now on.

Biden expressed hope that these measures would significantly hurt Russia. “Revoking PNTR for Russia is going to make harder for Russia to do business with the US, and doing it in unison with other nations (that) make up half of the global economy will be another crushing blow to the Russian economy already suffering very badly from our sanctions,” Biden said.

Ban import of a number of Russian goods. The list included seafood, vodka and diamonds.

To close the possibility of borrowing for Russian companies and organizations. Russia will be banned from borrowing from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other global financial institutions.

Introduce new sanctions against Russian oligarchs. According to Biden, the list of people hit by the sanctions was updated with new names, but the US president did not list them. The sanctions will also be imposed on members of the oligarchs’ families.

“They support Putin and steal money from Russian citizens,” Biden said pathetically, silent on the fact that, having taken money from the Russian oligarchs, the US will not return it to Russian citizens. Just as they are not going to give Afghan money back to ordinary Afghans. To punish the oligarchs even more, Biden banned exports of luxury goods to Russia.

The result of all sanctions must be the collapse of the Russian economy, said Biden.

At the same time, Biden listed the steps that the US is taking on its own. These include, in particular, supplies of weapons and goods to Ukraine – food and medical products. As for weapons, the US President especially mentioned anti-tank complexes and air defense equipment.

According to Biden, tens and hundreds of millions of dollars are spent for these purposes, and the new anti-Russian aid package to Ukraine contains $13.6 billion. Biden promised to sign the relevant decree immediately.

The decree later published contained another measure that Biden did not mention at the press conference. It was a ban on supplies of dollar bills to Russia.

“The following are prohibited … the exportation, reexportation, sale, or supply, directly or indirectly, from the United States, or by a United States person, wherever located, of U.S. dollar-denominated banknotes to the Government of the Russian Federation or any person located in the Russian Federation,” reads the text of the order.

According to Biden himself, he pins his hopes on the simultaneous imposition of sanctions by all states that actually represent the collective West, with the exception of a reliable US satellite – Japan. However, even a cursory glance shows that these hopes are not being met.

Suffice it to cite the example of the rejection of Russian oil and gas. Even in the US, which has its own fields, the news about the refusal of Russian oil (accounting for about 7% of total consumption) caused a serious rise in prices. What to say about the EU, which is much more dependent on Russian raw materials.

Not surprisingly, some European politicians are directly arguing that US actions against Russia are pushing the EU toward suicide. Josep Borrell, head of the EU foreign policy department, stated that the EU has already reached the limit of its capabilities with regard to sanctions.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

Leave a Reply