WASHINGTON — The United States and its allies were quick to impose economic sanctions on Russia Tuesday for what President Biden condemned as the start of an “invasion of Ukraine,” unveiling a set of coordinated punishments as Western officials confirmed Russian troops had begun crossing Ukraine. border.
Speaking from the White House, Mr. Biden denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin and said that the immediate consequences of his aggression against Ukraine are the loss of a key gas pipeline and the end of global funding for two Russian banks and several of the country’s elite.
“Who in the name of God, thinks Putin, gives him the right to proclaim new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors?” Mr. Biden said Tuesday afternoon, joining a cascade of criticism from world leaders earlier in the day. “This is a flagrant violation of international law and requires a tough response from the international community.”
Mr. Biden warned Mr. Putin that more sanctions would follow if the Russian leader did not withdraw his troops and make diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
But that prospect remained hazy by the end of the day as Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken canceled plans to meet with Russia’s foreign minister on Thursday, saying it “didn’t make sense” to negotiate while Russian troops were in position. move.
“To put it simply, Russia has just announced that it is taking a big chunk out of Ukraine,” Mr. Biden said, adding, “He is making a rationale for taking more territory by force.”
The global backlash began early Tuesday morning, just hours after Mr. Putin recognized the self-proclaimed secessionist states in eastern Ukraine and Russian troops began moving into their territory, according to NATO, European Union and White House officials. This was the first major deployment of Russian troops across an internationally recognized border since the start of the current crisis.
At a press conference in Moscow, Mr. Putin said he had not made the decision to send troops “right now.” But officials said the invasion began overnight, just hours before Mr. Putin’s parliament formally granted him authority to deploy military forces abroad. Ukrainians near territory controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists have been under fire for several days now, and as Ukrainian troops hid in their trenches and civilians hid in basements, the country’s military said one soldier had been killed and six wounded so far.
Financial markets around the world fluctuated on Tuesday after the actions of Russia and the reaction of Western governments. In the United States, the news drove stocks lower, leaving the S&P 500 in corrective territory, more than 10 percent below its January peak. Oil prices, which rose to nearly $100 a barrel ahead of the global turmoil, settled at $96.84 a barrel, up 1.5 percent.
Mr. Biden and his colleagues in Germany, England and other European countries described the global sanctions package as harsh. They include United States financial directives barring Russia from borrowing money in Western markets and blocking the financial transactions of two banks and the families of three wealthy Russian elites.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspend the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.. The $11 billion pipeline from Russia to Germany – completed but not yet operational – is critical to Moscow’s plans to boost energy sales to Europe. Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the European Union and the British government approved sanctions against lawmakers in Moscow who voted to authorize the use of force, as well as Russian elites, companies and organizations.
“It will be very painful,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles.
The governments of Japan, Taiwan and Singapore also issued a joint statement saying they would restrict technology exports to Russia in an attempt to pressure Mr. Putin to undermine his ambitions to compete in high-tech industries.
But action in Washington and other capitals around the world has been limited in scope and out of step with the wider economic warfare that some, including members of Congress and other Ukraine supporters, have repeatedly demanded in recent weeks.
Mr. Biden and his colleagues said they must balance the need to take quick and tough action with the possibility of even tougher sanctions on Russia if Mr. Putin escalates the conflict in an attempt to capture more territory claimed by the separatists. or even the whole country – a war in which tens of thousands of people could die.
“This is the start of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said, adding that “we will continue to tighten sanctions if Russia does.”
European leaders have also vowed to act harder if Putin’s forces continue to advance. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the British sanctions just “the first tranche.”
Mr. Biden’s use of the word “invasion” was significant. In the past, he has angered the Ukrainian leadership when he suggested that “minor intrusions” could be punished with lesser penalties. Now that Mr Putin has ordered troops into eastern Ukraine, Mr Biden is choosing his words to make it clear that there is nothing peripheral to the operation.
But this still leaves open the question of how to calibrate the sanctions, because there have been no mass casualties so far. John Finer, deputy national security adviser to the president, said Tuesday morning that the administration could hold back. some of his promised punishments in the hope of deterring further, much more brutal Mr. Putin’s aggression to take over the rest of the country.
“We have always envisioned waves of sanctions that will unfold over time in response to steps Russia is actually taking, not just statements it is making,” Mr Finer said on CNN. “We have always said that we will monitor the situation on the ground and respond quickly and firmly.”
What is important is that it remains unclear how far Mr. Putin is willing to go when he argues that Ukraine itself is a fake country, erroneously cut off from Russia. On Tuesday, he ominously announced that he recognizes the sovereignty of the so-called Donetsk and Lugansk republics not only over the territory they control, but also over the much larger part of Ukraine they claim, home to 2.5 million people.
At a hastily convened press conference on Tuesday, Mr Putin demanded that Ukraine swear never to join NATO, renounce advanced weapons supplied by the West, recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and negotiate directly with Luhansk and Donetsk separatists, which are being considered in Kiev. and Western capitals as illegitimate proxies of the Kremlin.
“The most important thing is the degree of demilitarization of Ukraine known today,” Putin said. “It’s the only objectively controllable factor that can be observed and reacted to.”
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said Ukraine had amassed 60,000 troops to attack Russian-backed separatist enclaves in the country’s east, a move Ukraine denies having any plans. Mr. Pankov’s remarks suggested little that a peaceful end to the conflict between the two countries was not far off.
“Negotiations have stalled,” he said in a televised speech. “The Ukrainian leadership has taken the path of violence and bloodshed.”
Mr. Biden’s announcement of new sanctions was equally grim. He said the United States is imposing a “total lockdown” on two major Russian financial institutions and “comprehensive sanctions” on Russian debt.
“This means that we have cut off the Russian government from Western finance,” he said. “He can no longer raise money in the West and cannot trade his new debt in our or European markets.”
He also said the United States would impose sanctions on the Russian elite and their family members to ensure that those closest to Putin are not spared the financial problems that are expected to hit ordinary Russian citizens hard.
Duleep Singh, deputy national security adviser, called the sanctions announced on Tuesday “only a sharp pain that we can inflict.”
Mr. Singh called the two banks “the Kremlin’s famed piggy bank” and the financier of “Russian military activities.” Banks will be prohibited from doing business in the US or Europe, and their assets in the US will be frozen.
Mr Singh said that sanctions against the Russian elite and their families would punish those “involved in the Kremlin’s corruption proceeds, and now they will share the pain.”
US officials have been worried for weeks that imposing tough sanctions on Russia could also have repercussions in the United States, including higher gas prices. Jen Psaki, a White House press secretary, said Americans should be prepared for the outcome of a conflict with Russia.
Asked about Mr. Biden’s proposed summit meeting with Mr. Putin, Ms. Psaki said the administration remains open to diplomacy. “It remains an option,” she said of a potential meeting, but only if Russia deescalates its fighting against Ukraine.
By the end of the day, there were no immediate signs of a major military escalation in eastern Ukraine, but terrified Ukrainians were boarding buses from breakaway areas as President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his country to “keep a cool head” during the crisis.
Mr. Zelenskiy insisted that Ukraine would not cede territory, and his defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, appeared to be preparing his country’s troops for battle.
“There will be a difficult test ahead,” Mr. Reznikov said in a grim statement released by the military. “There will be losses. You will have to go through pain and overcome fear and discouragement.”
Michael D. Shire and Zolan Canno-Youngs reported from Washington, Richard Perez-Peña from New York, and Anton Troyanovsky from Moscow.