US, Europe punish Putin with sanctions over Ukraine ‘invasion,’ threaten more action

US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday a “first tranche” of sanctions against Russia,  including steps to starve the country of financing, for what he called “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

And Biden threatened tougher steps if Russia “continues its aggression.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized Ukrainian separatist territories held by pro-Russian rebels on Monday, defying the West and further inflaming an already volatile situation.

On Tuesday, Western leaders said Russian forces had started moving into those territories, but stopped short of calling the troop movement a full invasion. Putin referred to the troops as “peacekeepers.”

European leaders also announced sanctions against Russia in response to the new developments.

Speaking from the White House, Biden said Putin was “setting up a rationale to go much further.”

He warned that, “If Russia goes further with this invasion we stand prepared to go further with sanctions.”

“Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belongs to his neighbors? This is a flagrant violation of international law,” Biden said.

“None of us will be fooled” by Putin’s claims of Ukrainian aggression, he added.

The sanctions target Russia’s sovereign debt, cutting the country off from Western financing.

“It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either,” he said.

The measures also target VEB, Russia’s state development bank, and members of the country’s “elites,” the US leader said.

“They share the corrupt gains of the Kremlin policies, and should share in the pain as well,” he said.

Biden also said he had authorized additional US forces be sent to NATO allies in the Baltics for defense.

The US leader said there was “still time” for diplomacy and to “avert the worst-case scenario” of a bloody full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine “that will bring untold suffering to millions of people.”

“There’s no question that Russia is the aggressor, so we’re clear-eyed about the challenges we’re facing,” he said.

Earlier, the foreign ministers of EU countries unanimously agreed on new sanctions against Russia, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

“We also unanimously agreed on an initial sanctions package,” Le Drian told reporters after the Paris meeting of top diplomats, accusing Russia of “violating international law” and “breaching its commitments.”

Britain will impose sanctions on five Russian banks and three “very high net worth individuals,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

“The UK and our allies will begin to impose the sanctions on Russia that we have already prepared using the new and unprecedented powers granted by this House to sanction Russian individuals and entities of strategic importance to the Kremlin,” Johnson told the British parliament.

The Russian moves also pushed Germany to suspend the certification process for Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was to bring natural gas from Russia.

The pipeline was built to help Germany meet its energy needs, particularly as it switches off its last three nuclear power plants and phases out the use of coal, and it has resisted calls by the US and others to halt the project.

A Ukrainian soldier died Tuesday and six suffered injuries in clashes with the Moscow-backed rebels in the separatist east, the army said.

Eight Ukrainian soldiers have died since the beginning of the year, with five of them killed in intensifying clashes over the past three days.