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US President Biden announced the first sanctions against Russia, saying that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has begun.
Economic and personal sanctions were included, but the US-Russian ministerial meeting scheduled for this week was ultimately canceled.
Correspondent Kim Jong-won from New York.
[Reporter
] U.S. President Biden strongly condemned Russian President Putin for granting independence in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
[Joe Biden/President of the United States: Who the hell does Putin believe gave him the right to declare the birth of a self-proclaimed 'new nation' on the territory of a neighboring country?]
President Biden, who declared that the invasion of Ukraine had begun Announced the first sanctions against Russia.
He has decided to completely block transactions with the West of two Russian banks, including Russia's largest state-run bank, the Foreign Economic Bank, and impose comprehensive sanctions on Russian government bonds.
[Joe Biden/President of the United States: Russia can no longer raise money from Western countries or trade new government bonds.
It is the same in the US market and in the European market.]
Human sanctions against the Russian leadership and their families were also included.
In addition, as Russia has taken military action, it will continue to provide defense weapons to Ukraine, and will additionally deploy 8 F35 fighters and 32 Apache helicopters to Eastern Europe.
President Biden said Russia's move was only the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine and warned that sanctions would continue to rise in line with Russia's moves.
Biden, however, said there is still time to avoid the worst-case scenario, adding that he remains open to diplomacy.