The United States will not immediately introduce all restrictive measures against Russia and hope for a deterrent effect. This was stated by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Earlier, Washington announced comprehensive sanctions against Russian banks, sovereign debt, and elites and their families. Other countries have joined the sanctions. In the meantime, the issue of gas supplies has become acute in Europe.
Joe Biden prepared the statement on sanctions against Russia for so long that he went to the press almost an hour and a half late. Began from sanctions against two Russian banksbut achieved, it seems, the opposite effect – after these words, the ruble only grew against the dollar.
“We are imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russian sovereign debt. This means that we are cutting off Russian authorities from Western funding. We are also imposing sanctions on members of the Russian elite, including their families. Together with Germany, we are working to ensure that Nord Stream 2″ was not launched as I promised earlier, was not commissioned,” said Joe Biden, US President.
True, a little later, White House press secretary Jen Psaki could not clarify whether the certification of the pipeline was finally stopped. But on the other hand, she told reporters that since 2014 officials in the Washington administration have been seeing little green men everywhere on the territory of Ukraine.
“We called them little green men because they don’t wear Russian military uniforms. Now we know they’re all over eastern Ukraine, and they’re, well, not in uniform. They act like the Russian military would,” Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, explained.
At the same time, Psaki said that the White House would not listen to the advice of those who praise Vladimir Putin. This is a “hairpin” to the former US President Donald Trump and his reaction to Russia’s recognition of the two republics.
“When I saw the news on TV yesterday, I exclaimed: ‘This is brilliant.’ Putin declared the independence of a large part of Ukraine. And this is wonderful. I asked: ‘How reasonable is this?’ He will go there and be a peacemaker. This is the most powerful peacekeeping force … We could use it on our southern border. This is the most powerful peacekeeping force that I have ever seen, “Donald Trump said earlier.
But the current US president prefers not to deal with his own borders, but to transfer the American military contingent closer to the Russian borders – from Italy to the Baltic countries. Canada also announced the strengthening of its military presence in Europe, it is about sending 460 soldiers.
“We will prohibit Canadians from any financial transactions with the so-called independent states of Lugansk and Donetsk. We will impose sanctions on members of the Russian parliament who voted for the illegal decision to recognize these so-called republics. We will prohibit Canadians from participating in the purchase of Russian sovereign debt. We will apply additional sanctions to two state-backed Russian banks and prevent any financial transactions with them,” said Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.
But according to Kiev, this is not enough. After a series of meetings in Washington, from the president to the head of the Pentagon, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that put more pressure on Russia.
“The world must respond with all its economic might to punish Russia. Hit the Russian economy now and hit harder,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged.
Later, he confirmed to reporters that Washington had promised to provide Kiev with even more weapons. Although in recent days, US military aircraft with weapons have already landed in Kiev with frightening regularity.
Well, on the part of European colleagues, Ukraine is waiting for membership in the European Union. Brussels is much more concerned about the new influx of Ukrainian refugees into its territory. New sanctions have not yet been approved, but announced. In particular, EU High Representative Josep Borrell promised restrictions on deputies of the Russian State Duma who voted for the recognition of the republics. And, judging by his Twitter page, they concern, first of all, the lack of shopping in Milan and parties in St. Tropez. He deleted the post, of course. But I received a response from Russian diplomats.
“Mr. Borrell, according to OSCE estimates, more than 13,000 people died in the Donbass during the war. On your behalf, there has never been a single tweet or post supporting the parents of murdered children, demanding that minors in Donetsk and Luhansk be provided with a safe existence, with a call to Kiev regime to curb the nationalists. Now we understand why: shopping and parties are what really excites. Such behavior of “civilized countries” borders on the loss of human appearance, “she said Maria Zakharovaofficial representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry
As for the sanctions themselves, Maria Zakharova called them illegitimate. In her opinion, now this is the only tool of Western countries to curb the development of Russia. At the same time, European officials seem to have forgotten about their citizens in the sanction fever.
As soon as the German chancellor announced the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 certification, the prices for blue fuel in Europe rose sharply.
“Welcome to the new world, where a cubic meter of gas will soon cost 2,000 euros,” Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council said on social networks Dmitry Medvedev. But you will have to pay, warns the President of Serbia.
“For us, the price of $2,000 is absolutely unacceptable, I hope we can reach some more suitable agreement. I don’t know who in Europe can pay that much, but they won’t be able to without Russian gas. And the fact that tankers will carry liquefied gas , empty promises, this will not even cover part of the required volumes,” said Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia.
But no one seems to think about the serious consequences of the sanctions war in the West. They break off with jokes. Here the American embassy in Ukraine decided to illustrate the greatness of Kiev: they say that its history is richer than Moscow. Apparently, the history of ancient Russia is not taught in American schools. Therefore, US diplomats know nothing about Vladimir and Veliky Novgorod.