Harsh attacks on Putin and "severe" sanctions, but in the end both Joe Biden and the European Union do not unleash the most feared weapons, even though they are left "on the table" in the name of a "gradual" approach.
There are no personal sanctions against the Tsar and there is not the much feared (from Moscow) exclusion of Russia from the Swift circuit of international transactions, on which not all European allies seem to agree.
Biden announces the joint decision of the G7 countries to punish "the unjustified attack on Ukraine" with a "devastating package of sanctions and other economic measures". Then from the White House he talks live on TV to the nation for over half an hour and illustrates the American response: sanctions on four other Russian state banks (worth one trillion dollars), including the giant Vtb, and halving the export of material technology to Russia. 24 Belarusian people and organizations are also targeted for their support for the Russian invasion.
The president reiterates that there will be no military intervention in Ukraine but that the troops are already mobilized in defense of the NATO countries, then evokes the "complete break in relations between the US and Russia".
Putin "has rejected any offer of dialogue. Putin is the aggressor, Putin has chosen this premeditated war for months" with "ambitions that go beyond Ukraine to re-establish the Soviet Union" and "now he and his country will pay for it the consequences ", he accused, convinced that the Russian leader" will become a pariah on the international scene ".
EU - "Speed and gradualness", it is on these two concepts that the EU leaders in the European Council that ended overnight have found a substantial agreement by closing on a second package of sanctions that will not include the Swift system and the gas sector but laying the foundations already for a third package of sanctions, certainly tougher.
The possible exclusion of Russia from Swift, the European sources add, "has been the subject of discussion".
"Russia will no longer have access to the most important financial markets, we take into account 70% of the Russian market", announced the President of the European Commission, Ursula von Der Leyen. "We will try to erode the foundations of the economy" and "reduce the reserves of rich Russians who will no longer be able to put their money in tax havens". Among the sanctions the stop "to the supply of spare parts for aircraft, three quarters of the Russian air fleet were built in Canada", he explains.
"The EU is united, the leaders have all agreed in condemning these atrocious attacks, the Kremlin will surely have to account for it", explained Von der Leyen. "We have approved a massive package of sanctions, which will have an impact on the Russian economy and the political elite and consists of five axes: the financial sector, the energy sector, the transport sector, export controls and visa policy" .
Sanctions "coordinated with the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia and Japan. Unity is our strength. The Kremlin knows this and has done everything possible to divide us, but it has not succeeded".
(Unioneonline / L)
