US President Joe Biden announced the first batch of sanctions, which would isolate Russia from the Western financial system, and target "Russian elites" and financial institutions.
Biden said - in a letter from the White House on Tuesday evening - "We will impose wide-ranging sanctions on Russian sovereign debt, and this means that we are cutting off the Russian government from Western funding."
He spoke of imposing economic and financial sanctions on the Russian government and their families, stressing that a package of sanctions against the Russian political elite will be implemented starting tomorrow.
Biden said, "We will start implementing 4 packages of sanctions against Russian institutions," and threatened to impose additional sanctions if Russia continued with its plans.
Warning
He explained that if Russia went on its way, it would bear the responsibility alone, declaring his permission to send additional forces and equipment to support the Baltic states.
Biden asked: "Who thinks himself Putin to declare the independence of territories that fall under the sovereignty of another country?"
He spoke of the obligation to defend every inch of NATO territory, and vowed Russia to pay a heavy price if it continued its "aggression."
He said Putin's obtaining permission from the Russian parliament to use troops outside Russia portends a further escalation.
He stated that the latest Russian step is the beginning of an invasion of Ukrainian territory, and revealed that Putin is laying the foundations to go beyond the recognition decision he made.
He declared that the latest Russian actions are "the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine", declaring that the United States will continue to supply Ukraine with "defensive" weapons.
Biden added in his speech, "The green light was given for the redeployment of US forces already in Europe in the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to reinforce them."
diplomatic solution
The US president was careful to say that "there is still time" for diplomacy to avoid a "worst-case scenario" in Ukraine and prevent an all-out bloody conflict.
"There is no doubt that Russia is the aggressor, so we clearly see the challenges we face," Biden added.
"However, there is still time to avoid a worst-case scenario that will bring untold suffering to millions of people if (the Russians) go ahead" in their action, he added.