Biden targets Russian banks, sovereign debt in 'first tranche' of sanctions over Ukraine invasion
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the U.S. is sanctioning two Russian banks as well as the country’s sovereign debt, as he blamed Moscow for what he called the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine.
Biden called the sanctions the “first tranche” of such measures and said the U.S. “will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates.”
Two Russian financial institutions, VEB and Russia’s military bank, will be sanctioned, Biden said — making it difficult to do transactions in U.S. dollars DXY, 0.00%. And the U.S. is targeting Russia’s debt so Russia “can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade its new debt on our markets, or European markets, either,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
U.S. stock indexes were lower Tuesday as investors were reacting to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to order troops to breakaway regions of Ukraine.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/biden-targets-russian-banks-sovereign-debt-in-first-tranche-of-sanctions-11645559399
Russian funds having their worst day in two years, as U.S. calls Putin troop deployment to Ukraine the start of a new invasion
A pair of popular ways to gain exposure to the Russian stock market were on track for their worst daily declines in about two years, with Moscow set to deploy military troops inside Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered troops into the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, after saying that he acknowledged the independence of the pro-Russian population in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s borders, including on the territory of neighboring Ukraine, are estimated to have reached some 190,000.
Although Russia has described the troop deployment as a “peacekeeping” effort to ease tensions between Ukrainian forces and the Moscow-friendly population of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Western nations are viewing the military action as an act of war.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/russian-funds-at-risk-of-worst-day-in-2-years-as-u-s-calls-moscows-troop-deployment-to-ukraine-start-of-invasion-11645552836
