Joe Biden, U.S. President: “Yesterday, Vladimir Putin recognized two regions of Ukraine as independent states, and he bizarrely asserted that these regions are no longer part of Ukraine and their sovereign territory. To put it simply, Russia just announced that it is carving out a big chunk of Ukraine. Last night, Putin authorized Russian forces to deploy into the region, these regions. Today, he asserted that these regions are actually… extend deeper than the two areas he recognized, claiming large areas currently under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian government. He’s setting up a rationale to take more territory by force, in my view. And if we listen to his speech last night and many of you did, I know he’s he’s setting up a rationale to go much further. So, today I’m announcing the first tranche of sanctions to impose cost on Russia in response to their actions yesterday. These have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners and we’ll continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates. We’re implementing full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions: VEB and their military bank. We’re implementing comprehensive sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt. That means we’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western financing. It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets, either. Starting tomorrow and continuing in the days ahead, we’ll also impose sanctions on Russia’s elites and their family members. They share in the corrupt gains that the Kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well. None of us, none of us should be fooled. None of us will be fooled. There is no justification. Further Russian assault in Ukraine remains a severe threat in the days ahead. And if Russia proceeds, it is Russia and Russia alone that bears the responsibility.”