One by one, the new actions against Russia announced by Biden in his State of the Union address

On Tuesday night, the US president Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address since taking office. The speech, normally devoted to assessing the country’s internal problems, this time took on a warlike hue in response to the invasion launched last week by Russia on Ukraine.

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The pattern was set from the start, when Biden asked a packed Capitol to welcome Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States and a special guest at the event.

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The intention of the Democratic president was “send an undoubted signal to the world, to Ukraine (…) The United States stands with the Ukrainian people”.

Biden devoted the first part of his hour-long speech to the conflict “unjustifiably provoked” by Russia and announced a new package of sanctions against the government of Vladimir Putin.

SPECIAL JUSTICE TEAM

“Today I say to the Russian oligarchs and corrupt leaders, no more! The United States Department of Justice is creating a task force that will go after his crimes”.

According to Biden, this special judicial force will be dedicated to investigating the assets of said oligarchs that could be linked to illicit businesses.

Although the president did not offer details on how many people would make up said team or when it would start operating, it is known that this type of special forces would have the capacity to carry out seizures on behalf of the US government.

“We’re going after your ill-gotten gains,” he warned before promising to go after his yachts, luxury apartments and private jets.

ENTRY PROHIBITED

“Tonight I am announcing that we join our allies in deciding to close our airspace to all Russian flights.”.

In line with the decision of Canada and the European Union to close their airspace to all aircraft from Russia, Biden confirmed that his country was joining this measure in an attempt to further “isolate” and “suffocate” Putin. .

The Federal Air Administration later confirmed that it would issue a resolution this Wednesday making official what Biden announced. The sanction contemplates both passenger and cargo and charter flights.

NATO DEFENSE

“Our troops are not going to Europe to fight for the Ukraine. But yes to defend our NATO allies in case Putin wants to continue expanding towards the West”.

Last week, Biden announced during a press conference from the White House that the United States would send 7,000 military personnel to Germany to strengthen NATO’s response capacity and “deter russian aggression”.

It was the second shipment of US soldiers to the conflict zone, after another 6,800 moved to European territory amid tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

With this decision, it is estimated that the United States has more than 90 thousand soldiers in Europe.

“We have mobilized ground troops, air squadrons and ships to protect NATO countries, as well as Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. We will defend every inch of NATO territory”, he warned.

“DROWN” RUSSIA

“Together with our allies, we are tightening our economic sanctions, cutting off the Russian financial system, and preventing the Central Bank of Russia from defending the value of the ruble, thereby rendering Putin’s $630 billion war fund obsolete. We are suffocating Russian assets”.

Over the weekend, the United States, the European Union and members of the G-7 announced that they would activate new economic sanctions against Russia equivalent to the “nuclear option” in that matter.

With the message launched during the State of the Union, Biden not only confirmed that these sanctions would remain, but also left open the possibility that they could increase if the conflict does not decrease.

Within these measures, the United States has cut the access of the Central Bank of Russia to its international reserves and excluded the financial entities of said country from the Swift international transfer system.

In addition, he announced that in a joint effort with the International Energy Agency they will put 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves on the market. The United States will contribute half of this figure, that is, 30 million barrels of crude oil.

With this, Washington plans to stop the escalation in oil prices as a result of the war in Ukraine.

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Source: Elcomercio

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