The reaction to Putin’s decision promptly comes in the form of sanctions. A meeting between Biden and Putin is also not planned for the time being.

Escalation of Moscow

Washington/Brussels/Moscow (AP) – The United States and Europe have responded to Moscow’s recent escalation in the Ukraine crisis with a package of penalties. The European Union decided on sanctions against Russia, which should come into force on Wednesday.

The US government is also planning the first punitive measures and is threatening more. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a meeting planned for Thursday in Geneva with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov. The White House has ruled out a possible meeting between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the time being. Biden expects a further escalation from the Russian side – and a large-scale attack on neighboring Ukraine.

The US is releasing additional troops and equipment to Eastern Europe given the situation. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a video message that a partial mobilization of reservists.

On Monday, Putin recognized major international protests against the independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and ordered the deployment of Russian soldiers. The Kremlin chief is planning an invasion of Ukraine for the second time since 2014. The West accuses Putin of violating international law. Russia is expected to have about 150,000 troops on the border with Ukraine.

Ukraine Ambassador: Sanctions may be too late

The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany welcomes the sanctions against Russia – but fears that they will come too late. He very much appreciates the unity in the EU and the USA and the measures that have already been taken, such as the implementation of the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, said Andrij Melnyk on Deutschlandfunk on Wednesday. “We greet all of this, only today it could be too late.”

Following Putin’s decision, the EU and the US immediately launched far-reaching sanctions against Russia. The new EU sanctions include putting those 351 members of the Russian parliament on the sanctions list who voted to recognize the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. There are also penalties against 27 other people and organizations. In addition, the Russian state’s access to the EU financial markets is to be curtailed and the EU’s trade with the breakaway regions is to be restricted.

For the time being, no EU sanctions have been imposed on Putin personally, as the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell confirmed on Tuesday evening after a special meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Paris. This was decided in order to have further measures in reserve.

The US government announces sanctions against two major Russian banks, against trading in Russian government bonds and against supporters of Putin and their families. Biden stressed that the United States was prepared to take even tougher punitive measures if Russia continued to take action against Ukraine. A US government official said that “no Russian financial institution is safe” in this case. Export controls could also follow. An exclusion of Russia from the international payment system Swift is still possible in the event of an escalation.

Nord Stream 2 is on hold

Britain and Canada also punitive measures against Russia. The federal government expects the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 to be on hold for the time being, which will allow Putin to write off billion-dollar deals for the time being.

Britain, Canada and Australia also reveal punitive measures against Russia. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss defended her government’s earlier sanctions after criticism. «We have introduced our toughest sanctions regime against Russia. Nothing is impossible,” wrote the conservative politician in a guest article in the Times on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday that he would impose sanctions on five Russian banks and three extremely wealthy Russian citizens. All three businessmen are considered close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The opposition, but also conservative members of parliament, criticized the measures as too lax, an expert described them as a “joke”.

For weeks, the US government had been warning of a Russian invasion and was accused of spreading alarmism and only fueling the situation. Now the Biden government feels confirmed in its course. Referring to Putin, Blinken said: “His plan from the beginning was to invade Ukraine to control Ukraine and its people, to destroy Ukrainian democracy (…) to recapture Ukraine as part of Russia.” Blinken described Moscow’s actions as “the greatest threat to security in Europe since the Second World War”. Putin is violently breaking the laws and principles that have kept peace in Europe and around the world since time immemorial. “Ukraine is in danger.”

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