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President Biden said the U.S. and its NATO allies will meet Friday to “map out” how they will next counter Moscow after Russian troops invaded Ukraine early Thursday.
The president said the U.S., the 30-member alliance and other close partners will affirm their solidarity and will take steps to “further strengthen” their resolve in deterring Russian aggression in Europe.
“Within hours of Russia’s unleashing its assault, NATO came together and authorized and activated an activation in response plans,” the president said in an address to the nation. “This will enable NATO’s high readiness forces to deploy when and where they’re needed.”
BIDEN ANNOUNCES MORE US TROOPS TO GERMANY, ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS OVER RUSSIAN INVASION: LIVE UPDATES
President Joe Biden answers questions during a news conference in the East Room of the White House.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Biden said he authorized the deployment of additional troops to Germany following Russia’s incursion Thursday that will join the thousands of U.S. troops that have already been deployed to NATO-member nations in Eastern Europe like Poland and Romania.
“This is a dangerous moment for all of Europe, for the freedom around the world,” the president said.
Biden and NATO allies have repeatedly said they will not send forces into Ukraine to engage with Russia militarily. Instead, the president said these forces serve as a deterrent to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his “naked aggression.”
“He has much larger ambitions in Ukraine. He wants to, in fact, reestablish the former Soviet Union,” Biden said.
In addition to the deployment of additional forces in Europe, Biden announced another tranche of sanctions that target Russian banks that cumulatively hold roughly $1 trillion in assets.
These sanctions followed the first round of penalties levied by the U.S. Wednesday, with roughly $80 billion in assets frozen when Washington targeted VEB bank and Promsvyazbank – both of which have ties to the Kremlin and Russia’s military.
Russian elites and their families have been added to the growing list of sanctioned individuals.
Biden would not answer questions as to why Putin has yet to be targeted by these sanctions.
The map shows where Russian troops are stationed.
(Fox News)
“We will make sure that Putin will be a pariah on the international stage. Any nation accountable in Russia’s naked aggression against Ukraine will be stained by association,” the president said.
Ukraine on Thursday called on the U.S. and NATO to bar Russia from the SWIFT international banking system – which would effectively block Russia from top financial networks.
But this move was also not included in the second round of sanctions announced by the president.
Biden claimed that by targeting the banks Russia will feel an “equal consequence” to being removed from the international banking system.
“It is always an option but right now, that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take,” he added, suggesting this could be included in a later round of sanctioning.
Ukrainian servicemen get ready to repel an attack in Ukraine’s Luhansk region on Feb. 24, 2022.
(Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)
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Biden said the sanctions are designed to impose severe costs on the Russian economy immediately and over time.
“We have purposely designed these sanctions to maximize a long-term impact on Russia,” the president said. But added, “If we don’t move against him now with these two significant sanctions he will be emboldened.”
