Biden government officials told CNN that the United States is ready to slap economic sanctions on Russia should it move to attack Ukraine, beginning with high-impact targets that would impose overwhelming and severe costs on the economy of Russia. Moreover, the harsh economic sanctions could significantly affect Russian consumers, employment, and industrial operations.
The sources said those impacts would put Russia in the same preventive group of nations for North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Syria for export control purposes. Moreover, the United States and Russia set to meet today for high-level dialogs intended to forestall a war as Russia deployed troops at its Ukraine border.
Biden officials warned that the US is prepared to impose a range of harsh economic penalties on Russia should it move to invade Ukraine, which would impose “severe costs on Russia’s economy. pic.twitter.com/WDX74Ixm7P
— Live News Now (@LiveNewsNow6) January 10, 2022
However, the United States officials said that if the discussions fail and Moscow does invade Ukraine, the Biden government will go for high-impact targets – unlike in 2014, when the United States initially responded to the Russian seizure of Crimea by targeting lower-level military officials and Russian banks. The officials added that instead, the U.S. government would adopt a start high, stay high approach in which the United States will target its financial system and sectors in coordination with allies.
U.S. President Biden vowed severe costs on the Russian economy if Putin ordered a new attack on Ukraine. The sources said that American restrictions could also debilitate the technical advancements of Russia, including in the civil and defense aviation sectors. In recent weeks, some Biden government officials warned Russia of security economic damage from harsh restrictions and the risk of reciprocal Russian cyberattacks should the United States follow through with the costs.
Missile Deployments in Ukraine and Russia
The Biden government is ready to discuss missile deployments in Europe and Ukraine. However, another official said that the likelihood of restricting the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercises during the upcoming dialogs as long as Russia makes reciprocal commitments. Furthermore, President Biden told his Russian counterpart that his government has no plans to deploy offensive missiles in Ukraine.
Likewise, the U.S. will discuss the future of some missile systems in Europe along the lines of the now outdated Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The official emphasized that the upcoming bilateral dialogs between the U.S and Russian officials will not result in any rapid, concrete pacts. Instead, officials will need to bring anything considered back to Washington and discuss it with American partners in the region.
Source: Web
The officials said they would attend these meetings with realism, not a sense of optimism, noting that the United States will not know until the dialogs get underway if Russia is ready to discuss seriously and in good faith. On Wednesday, John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, tweeted that force changes are not on the dialog table. The official further stressed that the remarks of the Kremlin during or after the talks, or what Russian state-run media reported, may not actually reflect what was accomplished on the table.
Been some @NBCNews reporting on options the US is considering in advance of talks with Russia. Can state unequivocally that we are NOT weighing cuts to troops in Europe or posture changes there. Also not looking at changing troop numbers in the Baltics and Poland.
— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) January 8, 2022
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