Biden announces 'first' sanctions on Russia over Ukraine

US President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House about Ukraine after Russian troops entered separatist regions

US President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House about Ukraine after Russian troops entered separatist regions

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced an initial set of sanctions against two Russian banks and the country's wealthy elite after what he said was Moscow's move to invade Ukraine.

"This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," Biden said in a televised speech at the White House.

Biden said that more sanctions will follow if Putin extends Russia's military grip beyond two small territories in the eastern Donbas region that are already under control of Russian-backed separatists. 

"He's setting up a rationale to go much further," Biden said.

Biden said the United States will continue to send "defensive" weapons to Ukraine's military but underscored there was "still time" for diplomacy and "to avert the worst case scenario."

For weeks, the United States and its allies have said that a full invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces massing on its ex-Soviet neighbor's borders would trigger devastating economic sanctions. 

Biden announced limited sanctions against the two separatist enclaves, which already have next to no dealings with the United States. And in the first public comments from the administration after Putin's geopolitical bombshell, a US official said merely that "we are going to assess what Russia's done." 

Putin's move has sparked intense phone diplomacy between Washington, European capitals and Ukraine, as the United States tries to maintain unity among dozens of partners over how to respond to Russia, which supplies much of the European Union's energy needs.

Shelving the pipeline will "relieve Russia's geostrategic chokehold over Europe through supply of natural gas," a senior US official said, calling it "a major turning point in the world's energy independence from Russia."

After announcing he was stopping the all-but-completed project, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Russia "there are also other sanctions that we can introduce if further measures are taken."

"No Russian financial institution is safe if this invasion proceeds," the official told reporters after the announcement of sanctions against the VEB state development bank and PSB, which is tied to the defense sector.

On Friday, the deputy US national security advisor for international economics, Daleep Singh, warned that the full set of sanctions under preparation would turn Russia into an international "pariah."

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