United States (US) President Joe Biden on Wednesday, 2 March (IST), announced that the US will ban Russian aircraft from US airspace, thus joining the growing number of countries who have imposed strict sanctions on Russia condemning President Putin’s invasion on Ukraine.
In his first State of Union address, Joe Biden said:
“Tonight I'm announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American airspace to all Russian flights, further isolating Russia and adding additional squeeze on their economy.”
Canada and European Union have closed their skies to Russian aircraft as well. Last week, other European countries like Germany, France, and Italy had already done the same, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Biden said, "We countered Russians lies with the truth. We're making Putin's 630 billion dollar war fund worthless. We are closing off the American air space to all Russian flights."
Biden said that the move was aimed to isolate Russia. He said, "We are choking off Russia’s access to technology that will sap its economic strength and weaken its military for years to come."
'US Forces Will Not Fight in Ukraine': Biden
Calling the war on Ukraine "premeditated and unprovoked", Biden said that Putin rejected efforts at diplomacy and believed that the West and NATO wouldn't respond. Biden said, "Putin was wrong. We were ready."
However, Biden asserted that the US forces will not engage in conflict with Russian forces in Ukraine. "Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO Allies, in the event that Putin decides to keep moving west," he said.
"For that purpose we've mobilised American ground forces, air squadrons, and ship deployments to protect NATO countries including Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. As I have made crystal clear the United States and our allies will defend every inch of territory of NATO countries with the full force of our collective power," he said.
He added, "Ukrainians are fighting back with pure courage. Putin may make gains on the battlefield but he'll have to continue to pay a high price in the long run."
"When the history of this era is written, Putin’s war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger," the US President said.
US is Coming for Russia's 'Ill-Begotten Gains': Biden
Joe Biden said that the US is partnering with EU nations to come for Russia’s “ill-begotten gains”.
He said, “The US Department of Justice is assembling a dedicated task force to go after the crimes of Russian oligarchs. We are joining with our European allies to find and seize their yachts, their luxury apartments, their private jets. We are coming for their ill-begotten gains.”
Promising support to Ukrainian people, Biden said that the US will provide military, economic and humanitarian assistance “to help ease their suffering”.
He further said on Wednesday, “Together with our allies, we are providing support to the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom. Military assistance. Economic assistance. Humanitarian assistance. And we will continue to aid the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and to help ease their suffering.”
Ruble Dips 30 Percent
Following strict sanctions, Russian currency was indicated to be down nearly 26 percent at 110.26 per dollar in offshore trading on Tuesday, 1 March.
The sharp fall comes after the US and European nations agreed to remove some key Russian banks from the SWIFT, a vital global financial network, last week.
(With inputs from CNBC, CNN)
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