Watch Live: President Biden Unleashes ‘Devastating Package Of Sanctions’ On Russia

President Biden will address the nation in the world in his first televised comments since the 5am (Kiev time) large-scale air and ground Russian-Belarussian invasion of Ukraine. Given that obviously Putin was completely undeterred by Biden’s meager and minimal “first tranche” of sanctions announced earlier, the president is now vowing the ‘toughest sanctions ever’. The big question remains: will Biden hit Vladimir Putin with sanctions personally? Will the West move to cut off Russia from the SWIFT payment system? 

President Biden took to Twitter before the address…

This morning, I met with my G7 counterparts to discuss President Putin’s unjustified attack on Ukraine and we 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. pic.twitter.com/dzvYxj7J9w

— President Biden (@POTUS) February 24, 2022

Watch Live (remarks originally scheduled for 12:30ET were moved to 1:30ET – with more delays possible):

To review what’s on the table, CNN writes: “Set to address the nation Thursday afternoon, Biden is expected to unveil new measures that could cut off Russia from advanced technology, announce new restrictions on large financial institutions and slap sanctions on additional members of the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

According to the breaking news wires, the UK has been the first to act among Western allies, rolling out with these initial serious measures: 

RUSSIA TO BE BARRED FROM RAISING SOVEREIGN DEBT IN U.K. MARKETS
U.K. TO FREEZE ASSETS OF RUSSIA’S VTB BANK IMMEDIATELY
U.K. BLOCKS RUSSIAN COMPANIES FROM RAISING FINANCE IN LONDON
UK TO BAN AEROFLOT AIRCRAFT FROM LANDING IN UK
U.K. IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON OVER 100 RUSSIA INDIVIDUALS, ENTITIES
JOHNSON: BANNING EXPORT OF HIGH-TECH COMPONENTS TO RUSSIA 

Concerning UK actions, there’s no mention of SWIFT – strongly suggesting this isn’t on the White House menu of punitive measures at this point. 

The big question will remain: will Biden hit Vladimir Putin with sanctions personally?

Putin has previously said he would consider such a direct move against a sitting head of state ‘an act of war’. Meanwhile, could there be a lull in the fierceness of Russian military action by day’s end?

RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY SAYS IT ACHIEVED ALL ITS GOALS FOR THURSDAY – IFAX

Here’s what Ukraine is tentatively demanding, issued in the opening hours of the all-out assault:

The world must act immediately. Future of Europe & the world is at stake. To do list:

1. Devastating sanctions on Russia NOW, including SWIFT
2. Fully isolate Russia by all means, in all formats
3. Weapons, equipment for Ukraine
4. Financial assistance
5. Humanitarian assistance

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 24, 2022

All this as the US is reportedly moving fighter jets into Baltic NATO ally states. While this is to be expected given airspace over the Baltics is routinely monitored by NATO fighters, it brings the US a bit closer to the possibility of tangling with Russian fighters in the region. 

Finally, we wonder just what the Biden administration feels about this conversation that former president Trump had about Germany being ‘owned’ by Russia…

I know CNN & MSNBC never aired this, so I figured I would. Spot on, don’t you think? pic.twitter.com/6V1vRKxP8p

— Justin Pulitzer Trades 🍊 (@JustinPulitzer) February 24, 2022

Certainly makes imposing those “tough” sanctions a lot harder eh!