Biden to address Russian move into Ukraine, as sanctions loom

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden was expected to give a public update on the situation in Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon, as U.S. officials began describing Russia’s movement of troops into eastern Ukraine as an “invasion.”

Biden, who was scheduled to speak from the White House, has said that an invasion of Ukraine would trigger devastating economic sanctions against Russia. 

Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday morning that the U.S. would take “significant steps that will impose consequences on Russia for the actions it took yesterday.”

Feb. 22, 202207:42

“If Russia takes further actions, we will have further significant and severe consequences that we can impose via sanctions on Russia, in addition to the other elements of our response, including security assistance to the Ukrainians to help them defend themselves,” he added. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday formally recognized the independence of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions in the eastern part of Ukraine and ordered troops into the territories to carry out what he called “peacekeeping functions.”

The order was seen by the United States and its European allies as a dramatic provocation after weeks of warning that Moscow was trying to create a pretext to invade, and raised concerns that Russia could soon move further into Ukrainian territory. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced earlier Tuesday that he would halt the regulatory approval process for Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that bypasses Ukrainian transit infrastructure to deliver Russian gas directly to Germany. During a visit to the White House earlier this month, Scholz had been unwilling to clearly commit to stopping the pipeline if Russia invaded.

Biden on Friday warned that Russia could attack Ukraine’s capital within the coming days, but said that there was still room for diplomacy if Putin wanted to “de-escalate and return to the negotiating table.”

The chances of finding a diplomatic resolution looked increasingly narrower Tuesday, with a planned meeting later this week between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “in real jeopardy,” according to a senior Biden administration official.

The Biden administration has said that any sanctions against Russia would be announced in coordination with the U.S.’s European allies.