US and UK impose sweeping economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine invasion

Biden announced new sanctions. They touched Sberbank, transactions in dollars and euros, imports of high-tech products to Russia, reports Meduza.

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US President Joe Biden announced sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

They include:

• restrictions on transactions in dollars and euros, pounds and yen for Russian businesses;
• restrictions on the import of high-tech products to Russia by 50%;
• sanctions against four Russian banks, including VTB;
• restrictions on borrowing in the US and EU markets for the largest Russian state-owned companies;
• sanctions against Russian officials, big businessmen and members of their families.

Among the banks that fell under US sanctions were also Sberbank Otkritie, Sovcombank and Novikombank (as The Bell notes, this is not about full-fledged blocking sanctions, but about blocking correspondent accounts in the USA, which should deprive Sber of the opportunity to conduct transactions in dollars) . Also under the sanctions were the sons of the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on environmental issues Sergei Ivanov, top managers of VTB and Sberbank.

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The US President called the imposed sanctions stronger than Russia's disconnection from the SWIFT system of interbank transfers, which Western countries discussed before the invasion of Ukraine.

Biden reiterated that the US would not go to war against Russia, but would deploy additional forces in Europe to protect NATO countries. On February 25, the leaders of the 27 member countries of the alliance will gather for a summit, Biden added.

“This aggression cannot go unanswered. If this happens, the consequences for America will be much worse than the increase in gas prices,” the US President said.

He noted that "Putin's aggression" will cost Russia dearly in the economic and strategic sense, and the Russian president himself will become a "pariah" in the international arena.

On February 23, the United States announced sanctions against Russia due to the recognition of the “DNR” and “LNR”. The state corporation VEB.RF and Promsvyazbank, their subsidiaries (including the CSKA football club) and the sons of three Russian high-ranking officials fell under them.

In addition, sanctions against Russia due to the recognition of the “DPR” and “LPR” were imposed by the European Union, Australia, Canada, and Japan. 351 State Duma deputies who voted for the recognition of the “DPR” and “LPR”, as well as Russian propagandists, military and officials, fell under European restrictions.

UK sanctions

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced new economic sanctions against Russia. Ukrainian Truth.

“These powers will allow us to completely exclude Russian banks from the UK financial system... denying them access to sterling and making payments through the UK. With about half of Russia's trade now transacted in US dollars and sterling, I am pleased to tell the House that the United States is taking similar action,” Johnson said.

Johnson said there would be limits to the amount of money Russian citizens could deposit into their UK bank accounts.

According to him, Aeroflot airlines will be banned from flying to the UK, and “strict export controls” will be introduced regarding equipment sold to Russia.

Similar measures will be introduced in relation to Belarus, the prime minister said. “The oligarchs in London will have nowhere to hide,” he adds.

The UK government intends to freeze the assets of all major Russian banks with an immediate freeze on the assets of VTB, whose assets amount to about $207 billion.

It is planned to adopt a law prohibiting all Russian companies from raising funds in the UK markets. Impose sanctions on individuals and legal entities and their subsidiaries, which include Rostec, Russia's largest defense company.

The whole complex of sanctions will be extended to Belarus.

Article 51 of the UN Charter

Putin actually declared war on Ukraine, while he referred to Article 51 of the UN Charter, which guarantees countries the right to individual or collective self-defense, reports Meduza.

The same article was explicitly mentioned in the agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between Russia and the “DPR” and “LPR”, signed on February 22, the day after Putin recognized their independence. The leadership of the “DPR” and “LPR” immediately took advantage of their allied status and asked the Russian Federation for help “in repelling the aggression of the armed forces and formations of Ukraine.”

Nico Krish, a professor at the Geneva Institute of International Relations, spoke about what the article was and whether the Kremlin had the right to use it.

Article 51:

“This Charter does not in any way affect the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs on a Member of the Organization until such time as the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members of the Organization in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately communicated to the Security Council and shall in no way affect the power and responsibility of the Security Council, in accordance with this Charter, to take at any time such action as it may deem necessary to maintaining or restoring international peace and security."

Putin appeals to this article of the UN Charter as a justification for the invasion.

“Many said that this step should legitimize the use of armed force against “big” Ukraine. This is what happened. The Kremlin’s argument was that the “DPR” and “LPR” turned to Russia with a request for help against the aggression of Ukraine and Russia allegedly came to the rescue within the framework of collective self-defense. Well, this is not the first time that the right to self-defense, which Article 51 provides, has been turned upside down and applied without any justification - many states have done this before. The point is that the right to self-defense is the only acceptable justification for the use of force against another state. And therefore, every state that faces the question of the use of force inevitably comes up against it. This is a frequently used rhetorical device,” explains the professor.

There have been cases where the West, predominantly the US, has used the right to self-defense in cases that cannot be justified. In the eighties there was a rather famous case when the US used it in Nicaragua in the absence of a real threat. Or Iraq in 2003.

“In the case of Iraq, the United States applied a not very clear legal strategy - on the one hand, it used the right of self-defense, on the other, it tried to rely on decisions of the UN Security Council, which was presented with evidence of threats from Iraq. Both of these lines were not entirely flawless from a legal point of view, so the invasion of Iraq was not justified. However, in one case or another, the fact that a state has acted wrongfully in the past—which the West certainly has done—does not give other states the right to act wrongfully as well. Especially as illegal as Russia is doing now,” Krish said.

Putin cannot view the possible expansion of the alliance as an attack on Russia.

“The United Nations system is built on the premise that abstract dangers and general threats to world peace must first be discussed at the UN level. And there is even a special mechanism for this - the UN Security Council. It is within his competence to deal with threats to the world; for this he has a whole arsenal of means. And the self-defense mechanism is an absolute exception to the rules, provided for those cases when there are no other options left,” Krish explained.

He added that traditionally it is believed that in order to use the right to self-defense, a country must already be attacked or the country anticipates the attack at the last moment with a preemptive strike.

“Abstract threats - like NATO expansion to the east - are not included in this mechanism. Otherwise, any state could perceive any potential threat as a reason to use force. And this would completely overturn the UN security system. There will be no rules, any state will say: “your actions threaten me” and use force,” Krish said.

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There are several aspects at once in assessing the actions between the “LPR” and “DPR” on the one hand and Ukraine on the other.

“Firstly, Article 51 talks about the use of force between states, which “republics” are not. Secondly, it is necessary to assess the scale of the fighting - small skirmishes on the border are usually not considered a sufficient reason to apply this right, the professor said. “It’s difficult for me to judge, but it seems that we are dealing with just such a use of force here, although the situation has been escalating in recent days. Another question: from which side is the use of force on the border coming? And we have enough evidence that this is happening primarily not from Ukraine, but mainly from the separatists, so from this point of view, it is difficult to regard these events as an attack.”

There is no centralized justice system in the world.

“Most likely, there will be no court that will give any final assessment, if only because Russia is not subject to the jurisdiction of such courts. Such an assessment will be given by other states, perhaps by UN bodies - of course, except for the Security Council, which will be blocked by the Russian veto. Most likely, some kind of resolution on the situation will be adopted by the UN General Assembly - as was done after the annexation of Crimea,” Krish said.
However, this resolution will not be binding.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• Russia demanded to close the way to NATO for Ukraine and Georgia, in the Alliance - they refused.
• Since December, Russia began to accumulate troops on the borders with Ukraine
• Putin warned about possible war with NATO over Crimea and accused the United States of trying to hinder the development of Russia.
• The situation is heating up. Russia removes its diplomats from Ukraine and sends troops to Belarus, allegedly for the sake of exercises, and the US Secretary of State is urgently going to Kiev.
• US suspends embassy in Ukraine and take diplomats out of the country, assuring Ukraine of its full support.
• But due to the aggravation of the crisis, the United States is transferring its embassy in Ukraine from Kiev to Lviv.
• US and Europe announce Russian provocations being prepared to attack Ukraine: propaganda body video.
• In the US, they believe that Russia may invade Ukraine in some moment.
• Putin after his address to the nation signed decrees recognizing independence of the 'LPR' and 'DPR' and friendship with them.
• Soon Russia sent its army to the east of Ukraine. The terrorists of the “LPR” demand that Kiev give it the entire Luhansk region.
• European countries and the United States reacted for Russian recognition of independence 'LPR' and 'DPR' - sanctions were introduced, the most significant from Germany.
• And Russia, after the ratification of the decrees on the recognition of the “DPR” and “LPR” and the world reaction, evacuates its diplomats from Ukraine.
• Later, Putin in earnest invited the West to recognize Crimea as Russian, and Kyiv to renounce NATO.
• Meanwhile, experts conducted a fact check of Putin's appeal to the nation and refuted his statements, such as "genocide in the Donbass and Lenin founded Ukraine."
• The crisis in Europe is getting worse, as are sanctions against Russia. US imposes sanctions on public debt, officials and banks Russia, and all meetings between the politicians of the two countries have been canceled
• And on the night of February 24 began full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine.
• In the light of these events in Russia and around the world, protests against the invasion of Ukraine.

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On the night of February 24, a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine began. What to Expect Next: Comments from CIA Veterans and Ukrainian Experts

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