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The US will welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others trying to escape the Russian invasion and impose new sanctions on Russian individuals and companies, the White House said.
The Biden administration is considering several methods for those fleeing Ukraine to enter the United States, including the refugee admissions program and probation and immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, according to senior government officials.
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Officials said President Biden’s cap of 125,000 refugees remains in effect for fiscal year 2022, but those entering through processes other than the refugee program do not count toward that total.
People arrive at an aid center organized by volunteers after Russia invaded Ukraine in Bydgoszcz, Poland, March 10, 2022. (Roman Bosiacki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS)
“We currently see no need to go beyond that in terms of the proportion of people who would enter as refugees this fiscal year,” they said.
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Officials also announced that the US will impose sanctions on the Russian elite group known as the Duma and 300 of its members, as well as more than 40 Russian defense contractors. As a back-up measure, the European Union will also impose a sanctions evasion initiative to prevent Russia from circumventing the new US sanctions. The EU initiative involves closing loopholes like Russia’s central bank, which props up its currency, and using a coalition of countries to prevent Russia from acquiring new technology or allowing other banks to do business for them.
“In any case, we will use this initiative to share information and coordinate our responses to prevent the emergence of a safe haven for Russia, whether in China or elsewhere,” the officials said. “Our goal now is to completely disarm its war chest by ensuring its foreign exchange reserves are not used to prop up the Russian currency.”
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The officials said the G7 countries will “join together” to tell international organizations not to continue dealing with Russia as they have been.
“Our goal here is to systematically eliminate the advantages and privileges that Russia once enjoyed as a participant in the international economic order,” they said.