Zelensky and the Ukrainian government have publicly said that Western allies need to move faster to punish the Russian economy for its intrusion, and Zelensky has publicly called for an embargo on international trade in all Russian goods and products. Ukraine also wants the US to ban Russian ships from its ports and canals.
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US sanctions against Russian officials also heavily target the Kremlin elite and members of the Duma, a branch of the Russian legislature. Zelensky on Friday asked Biden to extend the sanctions to members of Russia’s regional governments as well, people familiar with the matter said.
Shortly before publicly announcing the measures in a White House speech, Biden called Zelensky Friday morning to brief the Ukrainian president on the administration’s latest round of sanctions against Russia, one person familiar with the matter said. Zelensky told Biden that sanctions have a significant impact on Russia, but he would like them to be expanded as quickly as possible.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity to reflect the details of the private phone call.
Zelenskiy previously tweeted about his conversation with Biden: “Had a substantive conversation with @POTUS. I gave him an assessment of the situation on the battlefield, informed him about Russia’s crimes against civilians. We agreed on further steps to support the defense of Ukraine and strengthen sanctions against Russia.”
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A White House spokesman declined to comment. The White House previously said in a statement that Biden spoke with Zelensky on Friday “to underline his support for the Ukrainian people who continue to defend their country from Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack.”
Zelenskiy’s request reflects the increasingly difficult task facing the White House as he tries to impose harsh financial sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin without causing too much damage to the international economy.
The White House has imposed economic sanctions on Russia with unprecedented speed since the invasion began. He restricted imports of Russian technology, stopped U.S. imports of Russian oil and gas, targeted Russia’s financial reserves, and imposed sanctions on the Kremlin’s financial elite close to Putin, among other measures.
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But the Russian economy still retains key financial ties to the West. Europe, for example, cannot immediately cut off energy supplies from Russia due to its huge dependence, and only the UK has taken steps to ban Russian ships from its ports.
“What you’ve seen, at least to begin with, is the incredible and unprecedented coordination of sanctions by the world’s major economies,” said Adam Smith, who served as a sanctions official in the Obama administration. “However, all of these jurisdictions have their own methods of imposing sanctions and their own vulnerabilities in terms of collateral effects, and there are some discrepancies.”
Continued atrocities in Ukraine will only increase pressure on the Biden administration to step up its economic measures against Russia. Early Sunday morning, Russian rockets struck a Ukrainian military training ground near the Polish border, killing at least 35 people and injuring more than 100. On Sunday, an American journalist was killed, and on Saturday, The Washington Post reported that Russian strikes hit at least nine Ukrainian medical facilities.
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“The reality is that the Russian army, which is invading Ukraine right now, can operate because of many taxes. [international] companies pay into the Russian budget, which currently pays for the massacres in Ukraine,” Ukrainian parliament member Svyatoslav Yurash said in an interview.
Members of the Ukrainian government were also adamant that Western firms should stop financial transactions in Russia. Marian Zablotsky, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s finance committee, is preparing a list of US firms that still pay taxes in Russia.
“We must force all American companies to leave Russia – not just stop investing, but leave,” Zablotsky said. “Of course they are stopping investment in Russia – that’s not a concession given the conditions.”
Logistical obstacles could also make it difficult to fully comply with Zelenskiy’s demands. Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Eurasian Center of the Atlantic Council and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that banning Russian ships from entering certain ports and channels could simply result in a “flag change” — a change in the registry of a ship under what from another country. He also called such a move likely “insignificant in the overall picture of Russian economic activity.”
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“We definitely need to help Ukraine, but if we do not want an all-out war with Russia, which could escalate into a nuclear one, we cannot impose a direct blockade. We need to think about what can and cannot fly in terms of these measures,” Cohen said. “What prevents China from intervening and using, for example, Chinese ships?”
Along with economic measures, domestic consequences may also increase. Shortly after the invasion began, the amount of crude oil and oil products leaving Russia fell from about 8 million barrels a day to almost 6 million barrels a day, primarily because of traders who feared sanctions. Bob McNally, energy analyst at Rapidan Energy Group, who served in the administration of George W. Bush. Republicans have already clubbed Biden over high inflation, and further economic escalation could push the price of a gallon of gasoline even higher.
Still, administration officials have expressed confidence that Americans will blame Putin more than the president for raising gas prices.
“I think the American people understand the importance of taking some losses to stand up for values that are dear to us and that are fundamental to a peaceful world order,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen told reporters Friday.