On Thursday, Feb. 24, President Joe Biden spoke at a press conference regarding the Russian attacks on Ukraine. In his speech, he condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for the attacks, announced a major sanction package against Russia and said although U.S. troops will not go into Ukraine to fight, he is committed to defending nearby NATO allies.
“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden said.
His remarks come after Russia’s missile attacks on many Ukrainian cities on Feb. 24 Eastern European Time. So far, Russian forces have entered Ukrainian borders from the north, the east and the sea to the south, and both Ukrainian troops and civilians have been killed, according to the New York Times.
“For weeks, for weeks, we have been warning that this would happen. And now it’s unfolding largely as we predicted,” Biden said.
Biden announced sweeping sanctions against Russian banks that hold over a trillion dollars in Russian assets and Russian elites, including families close to Putin and important members of the Russian financial sector. Biden said the sanctions are an attempt to stop both the Russian government and Russian companies from “raising money from U.S. or European investors.”
“Between our actions and those of our allies and partners, we estimate that we’ll cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports. It will strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military,” Biden said. “It’ll degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program. It will hurt their ability to build ships, reducing their ability to compete economically. And it will be a major hit to Putin’s long-term strategic ambitions.”
Notably, there are no sanctions yet on the Russian use of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. The SWIFT system functions like a messaging network between banks, alerting banks whenever transactions are occuring, according to the Financial Times. Biden said the current sanction package is damaging enough without a SWIFT sanction, but that option is nevertheless still on the table.
Removing SWIFT access would make it incredibly difficult for any bank or financial institution to move money in or out of Russia and would be catastrophic to trade for the country, according to CNN.
Biden discussed the U.S. military’s role in the conflict, emphasizing that U.S. forces will not engage in the Ukraine conflict but will defend its NATO allies. Notably, Ukraine is not a member of NATO. He said due to there being Russian troops now in Belarus, he has ordered the U.S. ground and air forces in Europe to eastern NATO countries, specifically Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.
Biden said his administration is working to protect American families and businesses from rising gas prices. Biden asked that American oil and gas companies do not exploit this moment to raise their prices.
Biden concluded his speech by once again condemning Putin and restating his administration's commitment to the people of Ukraine and American citizens.
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On Friday, Feb. 25, NATO will convene a summit to discuss further action against Russia.
Zoe Perls is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @zoeperls
