Berliner Boersenzeitung - US unveils sanctions to turn Putin into 'pariah'

EUR -
AED 4.325007
AFN 82.242498
ALL 97.861399
AMD 452.456982
ANG 2.107236
AOA 1079.744921
ARS 1461.909869
AUD 1.797604
AWG 2.122399
AZN 2.006382
BAM 1.954671
BBD 2.376677
BDT 144.396598
BGN 1.955486
BHD 0.443838
BIF 3506.77453
BMD 1.177475
BND 1.499102
BOB 8.134129
BRL 6.381095
BSD 1.177095
BTN 100.459829
BWP 15.590995
BYN 3.852093
BYR 23078.508139
BZD 2.364434
CAD 1.602537
CDF 3397.015527
CHF 0.934174
CLF 0.028542
CLP 1095.275848
CNY 8.437084
CNH 8.437609
COP 4709.946719
CRC 594.444035
CUC 1.177475
CUP 31.203085
CVE 110.201349
CZK 24.649307
DJF 209.261303
DKK 7.462017
DOP 70.447814
DZD 152.345163
EGP 58.120021
ERN 17.662124
ETB 163.360876
FJD 2.63725
FKP 0.862468
GBP 0.862742
GEL 3.203192
GGP 0.862468
GHS 12.182705
GIP 0.862468
GMD 84.19399
GNF 10209.103348
GTQ 9.05058
GYD 246.269849
HKD 9.242978
HNL 30.754237
HRK 7.533842
HTG 154.547454
HUF 398.545235
IDR 19066.851138
ILS 3.939761
IMP 0.862468
INR 100.67593
IQD 1541.976634
IRR 49601.130791
ISK 142.404269
JEP 0.862468
JMD 187.881482
JOD 0.834876
JPY 170.14454
KES 152.083112
KGS 102.970633
KHR 4729.268433
KMF 492.184923
KPW 1059.684191
KRW 1604.7339
KWD 0.359472
KYD 0.981033
KZT 611.295774
LAK 25364.811057
LBP 105466.644517
LKR 353.166016
LRD 236.008673
LSL 20.705941
LTL 3.476778
LVL 0.712243
LYD 6.340338
MAD 10.565398
MDL 19.828127
MGA 5296.828156
MKD 61.513502
MMK 2472.287743
MNT 4225.230904
MOP 9.517503
MRU 46.719016
MUR 52.927943
MVR 18.137516
MWK 2041.238342
MXN 21.94042
MYR 4.970167
MZN 75.311739
NAD 20.705501
NGN 1801.4664
NIO 43.314982
NOK 11.864285
NPR 160.730751
NZD 1.9446
OMR 0.452721
PAB 1.17712
PEN 4.173989
PGK 4.862192
PHP 66.473762
PKR 334.151398
PLN 4.24229
PYG 9380.382844
QAR 4.302215
RON 5.057495
RSD 117.165863
RUB 92.73008
RWF 1692.122651
SAR 4.415637
SBD 9.816519
SCR 16.618563
SDG 707.078009
SEK 11.259445
SGD 1.500461
SHP 0.92531
SLE 26.434748
SLL 24691.064337
SOS 672.697176
SRD 44.019944
STD 24371.353222
SVC 10.300051
SYP 15309.563345
SZL 20.688996
THB 38.138847
TJS 11.447388
TMT 4.132937
TND 3.429546
TOP 2.757769
TRY 46.973129
TTD 7.983219
TWD 34.059055
TZS 3116.429941
UAH 49.091645
UGX 4222.471502
USD 1.177475
UYU 47.242713
UZS 14781.46241
VES 128.902304
VND 30813.929528
VUV 140.274476
WST 3.063467
XAF 655.578346
XAG 0.031771
XAU 0.000353
XCD 3.182185
XDR 0.815468
XOF 655.578346
XPF 119.331742
YER 285.125976
ZAR 20.743081
ZMK 10598.691339
ZMW 28.514925
ZWL 379.146439
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

US unveils sanctions to turn Putin into 'pariah'
US unveils sanctions to turn Putin into 'pariah'

US unveils sanctions to turn Putin into 'pariah'

US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced "severe" economic sanctions to make President Vladimir Putin a "pariah" for invading Ukraine, but conceded there was a lack of Western unity for enacting an even tougher measure.

Text size:

In a speech from the White House, Biden said four more banks -- including the two biggest, Sberbank & VTB -- would be hit with sanctions by Western sanctions. In addition, export controls slapped on sensitive components will "cut off more than half of Russia's high-tech imports."

"This is going to impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time," Biden said.

Those measures, on top of a raft of other sanctions already announced this week, will make Putin "a pariah on the international stage," Biden said.

"Any nation that countenances Russia's naked aggression against Ukraine will be stained by association," he said.

Biden confirmed that for now there was no attempt to put sanctions directly on Putin, who is widely reported to have amassed a huge, secret fortune during his two decades in power.

He also said that a much talked about move to cut Russia from the SWIFT international payments system -- essentially crippling its banking sector -- was not happening.

Ukraine pleaded for yanking Russia from SWIFT on Thursday, but Biden said that the Western coalition could not come to an agreement.

"It is always an option but right now that's not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take," he said.

- G7 closes ranks -

Biden spoke to the nation after having attended a virtual, closed-door meeting which lasted an hour and 10 minutes with the Group of Seven.

The group of rich Western democracies -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- said it was standing firm against Russia's "threat to the rules-based international order."

Biden tweeted that G7 leaders "agreed to move forward on devastating packages of sanctions and other economic measures to hold Russia to account. We stand with the brave people of Ukraine."

In a joint statement, the seven industrial powers also said they were "ready to act" to minimize disruptions to world energy markets as a result of Moscow's assault on Ukraine and with sanctions already targeting a major pipeline from heavyweight energy producer Russia.

In London, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain was freezing the UK assets of Russian titans in banking and arms manufacturing, sanctioning five more oligarchs, and banning Aeroflot.

And Germany's vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, signalled Thursday that the Western sanctions aimed to "cut off the Russian economy from industrial progress (and) dramatically limit access to the European and American markets."

- Next step -

A first round of Western sanctions was unleashed Tuesday, after Putin announced he would send troops as "peacekeepers" to two small areas already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

The US government joined European allies in imposing sanctions on two Russian banks, Moscow's sovereign debt, several oligarchs and other measures.

Then on Wednesday, as the Russian invasion force became clearly primed to attack, Biden announced he was imposing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany -- one of Moscow's highest-profile geopolitical projects.

Germany had earlier announced it would block the pipeline from opening for deliveries.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned this week that "no Russian financial institution is safe."

But there are limitations to what Western countries can do at a time when the world is emerging from the Covid pandemic.

Energy and other big Russian sectors are for now considered off limits for sanctions. Even so, oil prices are soaring at over $100 a barrel -- a surge that will hurt Western political leaders as voters feel pain at filling stations.

The United States is "not going to do anything which causes an unintended disruption to the flow of energy as the global economic recovery is still underway," said deputy national security advisor, Daleep Singh.

The SWIFT option in particular is seen as problematic. It would at least for some time disconnect Russia from basic commerce -- hugely disrupting Putin's economy -- but it would also carry considerable potential aftershocks to the wider, US-led financial system.

Another weakness to the sanctions strategy is that Putin has prepared to ride out any financial storms, at least temporarily.

Still, Singh said that Russia's government is facing "strategic failure."

"You will begin to see a chilling effect in Russia," he told reporters, calling Thursday's sanctions "the most consequential ever levied on Russia and arguably the most consequential ever levied in history."

(A.Lehmann--BBZ)