Currents News Staff
Tough new sanctions are in place to pressure Russia to back down from its advances on Ukraine. Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins says they haven’t seen such pressure before.
“It’s a very broad-ranging set of sanctions deeper than anything we’ve ever seen before,” said the prime minister.
The sanctions or punishment for what President Joe Biden calls ‘the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.’
“When all is said and done, we’re going to judge Russia by its actions, not its words,” President Biden said.
For the first time, the U.S. is fully sanctioning two Russian financial institutions making the country barred from raising money from the West. National Security Adviser Daleep Singh says it will be a costly move.
“These costs are going to escalate from here,” Daleep said.
The U.S. is taking it one step further to cripple the flow of money to President Vladimir Putin by going after members of his inner circle and their families.
“We put on notice the oligarchy in Russia that no one is safe,” Daleep said.
World leaders are actively assessing whether these sanctions will indeed deter Putin. President Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass says one shouldn’t hold their breath.
“We should still try to deter him, but I think we should also not assume it will work,” Richard said.
The country is already paying a hefty price. This week alone, more than $25 billion dollars has been wiped off the value of Russian stocks and the Russian Ruble has fallen to near-record lows against the dollar. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says the economy has taken a hit.
“Hit Russia’s economy now and hit it hard,” Dmytro said
The West is reserving some of its toughest sanctions should Russia proceed to a full-scale invasion. The so-called “nuclear option” would remove Russia from a key global transaction ledger, making it difficult from banks to send money in or out of the country.
“Russia is already feeling the pain,” Daleep said.