Ukraine war: US to cut off Russia’s 10 largest banks from financial system

United States government says it is imposing severe and immediate economic costs on Russia in response to Vladimir Putin’s “war of choice against Ukraine”.

The US, in a statement from the White House, said the sanction measures impose severe costs on Russia’s largest financial institutions and isolate the country from the global financial system.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced sanctions on two Russian banks in what he described as a “first tranche” of severe sanctions.

The sanctions were extended to Russia’s elites and their family members.

“Today’s actions include sweeping financial sanctions and stringent export controls that will have a profound impact on Russia’s economy, financial system, and access to cutting-edge technology, Jen Psaki, White House’s press secretary, said.

“The unprecedented export control measures will cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports, restricting Russia’s access to vital technological inputs, atrophying its industrial base, and undercutting Russia’s strategic ambitions to exert influence on the world stage.”

Psaki explained that the impact of the measures will be significantly magnified due to historical multilateral cooperation with a wide range of allies and partners who are mirroring “our actions, inhibiting Putin’s ambition to diversify Russia’s brittle, one-dimensional economy.”

According to her, the scale of Putin’s aggression and the threat it poses to the international order requires a resolute response.

She noted that the US government would continue to impose severe costs on Russia.