US (Washington Insider Magazine) – The White House is currently attempting to impose new sanctions on Russia due to recent developments and the recently announced invasion of Ukraine. While many hesitate to call this a true war, the Biden Administration is taking steps to make it fundamentally clear that the U.S. will continue to protect and defend its NATO allies.
Currently, President Putin has declared that the insurgence of missiles into Ukrainian airspace is solely for an unnamed military operation. He has repeatedly stated that he does not want war on multiple occasions, however continues to make military strategy a top priority between Russia’s relations with Ukraine.
In response to this, President Biden has announced that the U.S. will not currently have boots on the ground in Ukraine. Rather, he hopes to dissuade President Putin from continuing further through economic sanctions rather than military advancement. While over 3,000 U.S. soldiers have been deployed as of the 24th of February to the European continent, these have been placed strategically at the border of NATO allies that may be left more vulnerable should military escalation occur.
The goal of President Biden’s sanction package would be to economically target key elites and the Russian government, while simultaneously discouraging them from advancement on Ukraine’s legal territory. While citizens know that sanctions are currently coming through an unnamed package, it is unclear exactly what those sanctions are, or what material effect will come of them on U.S. soil.
The U.S. is not the only entity putting pressure on President Putin. Germany is joining as well, as they have delayed further certification of their Nord Stream 2 pipeline. This was crucial to Putin’s strategy for making the Russian economy recession-resistant and was to run between Russia to Germany for ease of export and other fiscal benefits. This strategy alone could severely dampen President Putin’s financial momentum, as it would be largely excluding him from a surging European market for natural gas.
It is important to note that the U.S. government has been vocally against the creation of this pipeline, with fears that Putin would use this as leverage to further expand its military aggression into neighboring, vulnerable countries.
Potentially, we may see additional sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 coming from the U.S. to encourage and support Germany’s efforts in this matter. While the U.S. is attempting to use sanctions as a motivational tool to correct Putin’s current political agenda, the country wants to do so without needlessly endangering the wellbeing of Russian citizens, so as to avoid an international incident. It is no one’s want to see this war happen, as it could cause undue bloodshed.
That leaves many with the question: How will sanctions be executed, and on whom?
Currently, the U.S. is operating off of a confidential SDN – otherwise known as a Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Person’s List. There are several individuals and elites on this list that are currently acting as proxies of Russia, which will result in their assets and financial support being completely cut off.
The U.S. hopes that this strategy will be enough to prevent further incursion into Ukraine.
