Biden Unveils First Wave Of Sanctions Against Russia, Promising 'We Have Our Next Move Prepared'

U.S. President Joe Biden announced a first wave of sanctions against Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he was recognizing two rebel-held Ukrainian provinces as independent nations and ordering troops into these territories to bolster their pro-Russian leadership.

What Happened: Speaking Tuesday at the White House, the president claimed Putin’s actions in Ukraine marked "the beginning of a Russian invasion," repeating his insistence that his Russian counterpart would go further with an armed attack against its smaller and weaker neighbor.

"We still believe that Russia is poised to go much further and launch a massive military attack against Ukraine," Biden said.

The initial sanctions focus on VEB, the major Russian bank, along with its military bank, and on Russia’s sovereign debt.

“That means we’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western financing,” Biden said. “It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade its new debt on our markets. or European markets either.”

The president did not offer specific details of the financial sanctions, which will be released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Biden pledged additional sanctions would be forthcoming against the members of Putin’s inner circle, describing them as “Russia’s elites and their family members” and stating they were being targeted because they “share the corrupt gains of the Kremlin’s policies, and so they ought to share in the pain as well.”

Biden promised more sanctions to come, although he did not spell out any specifics.

"As Russia contemplates this next move, we have our next move prepared as well. Russia will pay an even steeper price if it continues its aggression, including additional sanctions," he warned.

See Also: What A Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Would Mean For Investors (Look At The Past For The Answer)

What Else Happened: One response that the president refused to put on the table was sending U.S. troops into Ukraine, although he acknowledged the “defensive” move of spreading U.S. forces across Eastern Europe.

"We have no intention of fighting Russia," Biden said.

Absent from the new U.S. sanctions was a focus on Russia’s energy industry. Earlier in the day, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced he would halt the regulatory approval process for Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that delivers Russian gas directly into Germany.

In recognizing the independence of the pro-Russian militias running the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine since 2014, Putin defined Ukraine as being a historical part of Russia and accused the Ukrainian government of being a U.S. puppet.

“As for those who captured and are holding on to power in Kyiv,” he said in a televised speech on Monday night, “we demand that they immediately cease military action.”

Price Action: The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY is down about 0.66%, while the VanEck Russia ETF RSX is down 8.8% at press time.

Photo: The White House