US and allies impose sanctions on Russia, as Biden calls moves on Ukraine the start of an invasion

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Russian armoured vehicles on the road in Rostov region. Moscow has ordered more forces into Ukraine’s Donbas for “peacekeeping duties”. Photo: EPA-EFE

Finbarr Berminghamin BrusselsandOwen Churchill

Published: 11:00pm, 22 Feb 2022Updated: 1:33pm, 9 Mar 2022

Western powers and allies started to unveil tough new sanctions on Tuesday against Russia over its recognition of two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine, with US President Joe Biden calling Moscow’s move a “flagrant violation of international law” and the beginning of an invasion.

The United States, European Union, Britain and Japan all said they would finalise sanctions on Tuesday in a coordinated response to the situation.

The moves came after more Russian troops were funnelled into the front lines in Donbas, threatening to escalate the situation.

In an address at the White House, Biden announced full blocking sanctions against two major Russian financial entities – the VEB financial development bank and PSB – and cut off the Russian government from western financing, preventing Moscow from raising money in the West or trading its debt in US or European markets.

US President Joe Biden discussing the US response to the escalation on the Ukraine-Russian border on Tuesday at the White House. Photo: EPA-EFE

Biden said that the US would also impose sanctions against Russian individuals and their families in the days ahead.

The US Treasury Department announced it had already targeted “powerful Russians in Putin’s inner circle”, including Denis Aleksandrovich Bortnikov, the son of Russia’s federal security service chief; Petr Mikhailovich Fradkov, the chairman and chief executive of PSB; and Vladimir Sergeevich Kiriyenko, son of a senior political figure in Moscow and chief executive of the VK Group, which controls the Russian social media giant Vkontakte.