Biden says Russian ‘invasion’ of Ukraine is ‘beginning’

‘First tranche’ of sanctions on Russia announced, including on debt

US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Russia has begun to invade Ukraine but that there was still time for diplomacy to avoid the "worst case scenario" of a full-blown assault on the country.

"This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," the US leader said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's declared plans to send troops deep into the Donbas region in southeast Ukraine. 

"He's setting up a rationale to take more territory by force," Biden said in a nationwide address from the White House.

"And if we listened to his speech last night... he's setting up a rationale to go much further," Biden said.

Biden announced more sanctions targeting Russian finances and political elite, in hopes that the pressure will deter a wholesale invasion.

He said that the United States would continue to supply "defensive" weapons to Ukraine and deploy more US troops to reinforce NATO allies in Eastern Europe.

But he suggested that diplomatic talks could stem a worsening of the crisis, one of the deepest in Europe since World War II.

"There's no question that Russia is the aggressor, so we're clear-eyed about the challenges we're facing," Biden said.

"Nonetheless, there is still time to avert the worst case scenario that will bring untold suffering to millions of people if they move as suggested," he said.

‘FIRST TRANCHE’ OF SANCTIONS

Biden, meanwhile, announced the "first tranche" of sanctions against Russia, including steps to starve the country of financing, saying Moscow had started an invasion of Ukraine.

And Biden threatened tougher steps if Russia "continues its aggression."

"We're implementing sanctions on Russia's sovereign debt. That means we've cut off Russia's government from Western financing," Biden said.

"It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either."

The measures also target VEB, Russia's state development bank, and members of the country's "elites," the US leader said.

"They share the corrupt gains of the Kremlin policies, and should share in the pain as well."

The announcement came after the European Union unveiled its own sanctions in a coordinated Western effort to pressure Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Biden said the responses "have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners" and added, "We'll continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates."

However Washington's response did not seem to go as far as the European Union, nor as far as some expected.

Biden announced "full blocking sanctions" on both VEB and Russia's "military bank," which likely means the institutions will have their foreign assets frozen and will be prohibited from using the US financial system.

However, the penalties cover fewer financial institutions, and do not appear to have severed the country from the SWIFT system used to move money around the globe.

Nor did Biden resort to export controls, which would have cut Russian firms off from key high-tech equipment and software, which some analysts said was a possibility.

Agence France-Presse

Biden 'First Dogs' arrive at White House

WASHINGTON - Joe Biden's dogs Champ and Major have moved into the White House, reviving a long-standing tradition of presidential pets that was broken under Donald Trump.

The pooches can be seen trotting on the White House grounds in pictures retweeted by First Lady Jill Biden's spokesman Michael LaRosa, with the pointed obelisk of the Washington Monument in the background.

"Champ is enjoying his new dog bed by the fireplace, and Major loved running around on the South Lawn," LaRosa told CNN in a statement Monday.

The Biden's dogs, both German shepherds, follow the pawprints of presidential pets that included Barack Obama's Bo, a black Portuguese water dog and George W. Bush's Scottish terrier, Barney. 

Trump, a famously finicky germaphobe, broke with that convention -- as he did with many presidential traditions -- and never had a pet in his White House.

"How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn," Trump asked, with a grimace, in a video included in a Biden campaign ad.

Agence France-Presse

Biden to hit reset on US fight against COVID-19

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden on Wednesday will immediately reset the nation's response to the COVID-19 crisis when he heads to the Oval Office after being sworn in to lead a country reeling from its worst public health crisis in more than a century.

As part of a first sweep of executive actions, Biden will order that all federal employees wear masks and make face coverings mandatory on federal property. He will establish a new White House office to coordinate the coronavirus response and halt the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization, a process initiated by the outgoing president, Donald Trump.

The orders signal that Biden aims to fulfill his campaign promise to make COVID-19 relief a top priority and will mark a sharp divergence from the Trump administration's pandemic response, which critics say was ineffectual, uncoordinated and at least partly responsible for the death of more than 400,000 Americans.

He will begin work on his executive actions after a scaled-back inauguration ceremony unlike any other in US presidential history, with the National Mall covered in a "field of flags" instead of the typical crowds, who were not permitted because of the risk of contagion.

"We can overcome the deadly virus," Biden said in his inaugural address, which called for unity in a nation gripped by tense political divide.

Biden was also poised to nominate an acting US surgeon general as soon as Wednesday, a person familiar with the decision told MSNBC, following the resignation of Trump appointee Jerome Adams.

Biden's actions, particularly the mask mandate, are intended to set an example for state and local officials to rein in the virus, which has hobbled the US economy. The United States has reported nearly 200,000 new COVID-19 cases and 3,000 deaths per day on a seven-day rolling average, according to Reuters data. More than 123,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Wednesday.

Scientists and public health experts have said face masks can help prevent the spread of the highly contagious novel coronavirus, but the coverings have become a flashpoint in American life reflecting the nation's larger political divide.

Trump, who contracted COVID-19 last autumn, had eschewed their use at all but a handful of events and continued to hold crowded, largely maskless campaign rallies while Biden's campaign initially stuck to virtual events before expanding to other masked and socially distant gatherings.

There were few face masks as Trump departed Washington Wednesday morning. In remarks to the crowd at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Trump again painted his administration as a victim of the virus and listed a series of accomplishments such as tax cuts, deregulation and stock market gains before addressing COVID-19 deaths.

"We got hit. Nobody blames us for that. The whole world got it," he said of the pandemic's toll on the economy. He later touted the development of a vaccine as a "miracle" before paying his respects to people and families impacted by the virus.

-reuters-