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A man walks through the site of yesterday's blast targeted at the TV tower, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv. (Reuters) During his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden announced that all Russian aircraft will be banned from entering the US airspace.
“Tonight, I’m announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American airspace to all Russian flights, further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy,” he said.
The announcement comes close on the heels of similar moves by Canada and the European Union to ban Russian planes from entering their airspace.
Earlier, a host of countries has imposed strong sanctions on Russia in retaliation for their invasion of Ukraine.
The European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada have banned certain Russian banks from SWIFT. Earlier, Germany had halted certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in retaliation to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
The US and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia’s central bank and sovereign wealth funds. US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement, “The unprecedented action we are taking today will significantly limit Russia’s ability to use assets to finance its destabilizing activities, and target the funds Putin and his inner circle depend on to enable his invasion of Ukraine.”
Russia has been hit the hardest by the economic sanctions imposed on it, with the rouble sliding 30% against the dollar on Monday and the Russian central bank doubling interest rates.
According to a Reuters report, a senior US administrator told journalists, “Putin’s war chest of $630bn of reserves only matters if he can use it to defend his currency, specifically by selling those reserves in exchange for buying the rouble,” the official said. “After today’s action, that will no longer be possible and ‘Fortress Russia’ will be exposed as a myth.”
List of sanctions
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has announced that Russian financial institutions, such as the Russian Central Bank, will be barred from making transactions in American dollars.
Saying “Putin chose this war”, Biden imposed harsh sanctions last week. In a statement, the White House said “this includes Russia-wide restrictions on semiconductors, telecommunication, encryption security, lasers, sensors, navigation, avionics and maritime technologies.”
It added that it would cut off 13 major state-owned companies from raising money in the United States, including energy giant Gazprom and Sberbank.
The UK also said that it would prevent Sberbank, while three more Russian banks—Otkritie, Sovcombank and VEB—will face a full asset freeze.
“We will continue on a remorseless mission to squeeze Russia, from the global economy, piece by piece. Day by day, and week by week,” UK PM Boris Johnson said.
Other countries have also followed suit. Australia said that it would “begin imposing further sanctions on oligarchs, whose economic weight is of strategic significance to Moscow and over 300 members of the Russian Duma, their parliament.” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that they would cut off trade with Russia and impose travel bans against Russian officials.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday, “We are pursuing the complete census of financial assets, real estate, yachts and luxury vehicles that would belong to Russian personalities under European sanctions.”
Switzerland said that it was adopting the EU’s sanctions against Russia, adding, “Russia’s unprecedented military attack on a sovereign European country was the deciding factor in the Federal Council’s decision to change its previous stance on sanctions.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the sanctions will paralyse Russia’s central bank assets and inflict “maximum impact on the Russian economy and political elite.”
“We will hold the Kremlin accountable,” she said.
EU approves new sanctions against Belarus
Reuters reported that European Union diplomats have approved new sanctions against Belarus for its supporting role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the French Presidency of the EU said on Wednesday.
EU diplomats approved new sanctions against Belarusian people who are playing a role in the attacks to Ukraine, the French Presidency said on Twitter.
Sanctions will also hit “some economic sectors, and in particular timber, steel and potassium,” the statement said.
Contrary voices
China will not join others in imposing financial sanctions on Russia, the country’s bank regulator said on Wednesday.
“We will not join such sanctions, and we will keep normal economic, trade and financial exchanges with all the relevant parties,” Guo Shuqing, the chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said on Wednesday.
Shuqing added, “We disapprove of the financial sanctions, particularly those launched unilaterally, because they don’t have much legal basis and will not have good effects.”
(With agency inputs)
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