U.S. President Joe Biden announced new sanctions against Russia for a full-scale attack on Ukraine during a video address, Novoe Vremya reported.
He noted that "Putin chose this war and his country will be held accountable."
"Today I am imposing additional harsh sanctions and new restrictions on what is allowed to be exported to Russia. This will severely damage the Russian economy both immediately and over time," Biden said.
He said that the U.S. is not alone on this issue: for months, Washington has been building a coalition of countries that account for more than half of global GDP.
Biden said that he talked to the G7 leaders this morning. They agreed "to limit Russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen, and to be part of the global economy."
The West would limit Russia's ability to finance and develop the Russian military, as well as to "compete in the high-tech economy of the 21st century."
Biden stressed that the West's actions have already caused the Russian ruble to plummet to a historic low and the country's stock market to collapse.
"We are now imposing sanctions on Russian banks that collectively hold about $1 trillion in assets. We will cut off Russia's largest bank [Sberbank], which accounts for more than a third of the assets of the Russian banking system, from the U.S. financial system. And today we are also blocking four other big banks. This means that all the assets they have in America will be frozen," Biden said.
The sanctions are being imposed in particular against VTB, Russia's second-largest bank, which has $250 billion in assets, Biden said. Gazprombank, Otkritie Bank, Novikombank and Sovcombank will also be subject to restrictions.
The U.S. will expand the sanctions list of Russian elites and their family members, as well as ban the largest Russian state-owned companies from raising funds in the U.S. and European capital markets.
The U.S. and allies would stop more than half of Russia's high-tech imports.
"This will hit Russia's ability to modernize its military, degrade its aerospace industry, including their space program," the U.S. president said.
He also stressed that the U.S., in imposing sanctions, would allow energy payments. Washington is closely monitoring energy supplies for any disruptions.
Biden said the option of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT exists, but "right now that is not a measure that Europe wants to take."
The U.S. president said he has no plans to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has launched an open war against Ukraine, at this time.
"I have no plans to talk to Putin," Joe Biden said.
Biden added that Putin would be a pariah on the international stage, and that his decision to start a completely unjustified war with Ukraine made Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.
