President Joe Biden has announced a host of new sanctions for major banks, Russian elites and state-owned enterprises which he says will be a 'major hit to Putin's long-term strategic ambitions'.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his troops would begin a “special military operation” on Thursday morning which resulted in widespread bombing across multiple major Ukrainian cities.
“We have purposely designed these sanctions to maximise long-term impact on Russia and to minimise the impact of the United States and our allies.” The United States will impose the sanctions alongside the 27 members of the European Union as well as other major economic powers including the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Australia.
“We'll strike a blow and continue to modernise the military. It will degrade their aerospace industry, including the space program. The US has also sanctioned Russian banks holding around $1 trillion in assets with the largest Russian bank – which holds more than one third of Russia’s banking assets – completely cut from the US financial system.
“These are people who personally gain from the Kremlin's policies and they should share in the pain,” Mr Biden said.