US President Joe Biden on Tuesday continued to warn Russia against an invasion of Ukraine, noting it would have “enormous consequences”.
Biden told reporters a Russian invasion of Ukraine would be the “largest invasion since World War II” and that “It would change the world”.
When asked by reporters about the possibility of introducing sanctions directly targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in the event of an invasion, Biden said, “Yes. I would see that.” The US has previously imposed sanctions on Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, Syria's Bashar al-Assad and Libya's Muammer Gaddafi.
Biden reiterated he was obliged to beef up NATO forces in eastern Europe. However, he repeated there were no plans to send US troops to Ukraine.
Interestingly, Biden conceded it was difficult to predict Putin's next moves. “It’s a little bit like reading tea leaves... Ordinarily, with a different leader, the fact that he continues to build forces along Ukraine’s border from Belarus all the way around, you’d say, ‘well, that looks like he’s going to do something,” Biden was quoted as saying by CNBC.
New US restrictions
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AFP reported the US was considering imposing restrictions on exports to Russia of high-tech equipment “in the artificial intelligence, quantum computing and aerospace sectors”.
There have been differences of opinion between the US and EU on the scope of sanctions. “European Union members aren’t in agreement with the U.S. on how broadly to target the Russian economy. Germany, for example, has pushed for an exemption for the energy sector if there is a move to block Russian banks from clearing U.S. dollar transactions,” Bloomberg reported.
