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By PTI
WASHINGTON: Russian President Vladimir Putin will face “significant consequences” if Moscow invades Ukraine, the White House warned on Wednesday, noting that the series of sanctions announced against it in the last two days are just a beginning.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, during her daily news conference, told reporters that the United States has a specific authority to take additional steps against Russia’s financial institutions.
“To make very clear to President Putin and to our partners around the world that there will be significant consequences beyond what we have already done, should he invade further,” she said.
“There’s additional enormous financial institutions, the two largest banks, for example, which were not a part of the announcement we made yesterday (Tuesday).”
“There’s an additional step we’ve expressed an openness to, including taking steps that relate to export controls. So, these are assessments we will continue to make internally, and we have a range of tools that we are prepared to — steps we are prepared to take should he further escalate,” Psaki said.
She said that America’s preference would be that Putin doesn’t further invade.
“What we’re also assessing is that he has had to adjust, adapt to the strength of the unity of the global community, to what our reaction has been. And he has been forced to need to respond and adapt his own actions. We will see.”
“We still very much anticipate and predict that he will invade further. But again, we’re also seeing an impact on how he’s behaving,” Psaki said.
At the same time, she noted that the US is working on minimising the impact of Russian invasion on the global economy.
“But there is not an impact from the sanctions we’ve announced on the American public. It really depends in part on what President Putin does in many regards,” she said.
At the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, its Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is beginning.
“Hours after Russia recognised the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as “independent,” President Putin authorised Russian troops to enter those regions. He has taken other steps that amount to a direct assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty,” he said.
Moscow, Price reiterated, needs to demonstrate that it’s serious about diplomacy.
“Russia’s actions over the last 48 hours have in fact demonstrated the opposite. If Moscow’s approach changes, we remain ready to engage. The United States and our allies and partners remain open to diplomacy. We are eager to engage to avert what would be a brutal and costly conflict. But as we have said, diplomacy cannot succeed unless Russia changes course,” he said.
“Our goal here, even as the Russian invasion of Ukraine is beginning, is to avert the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario that we have warned about for some time now.”
“We have gone into great detail in terms of what that could look like. Electronic warfare, a fuller scale invasion, an attack on major urban centers including Kyiv, a city of 2.9 million people, horrific human rights abuses. Atrocities, potential war crimes,” Price said in response to a question.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said that Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the additional movement of some US forces that are currently stationed in Europe to continue its support for NATO allies in the defence of the Eastern Flank.
“These forces consist of aviation elements and some ground forces. We’ll move within the European area of operations to NATO’s northeastern and southeastern Flanks in the coming days. And we expect them to be in place later this week. They include an Infantry Battalion Task Force of approximately 800 personnel. They’ll be moving from Italy to the Baltic region. It’s a movement of up to eight F-35 Strike Fighters from Germany to several operating locations along the Eastern Flank,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said.
A Battalion of Attack Aviation and specifically 20 AH-64 helicopters from Germany is being moved to the Baltic region.
An Attack Aviation Task Force, which is 12 AH-64 helicopters, will move from Greece to Poland, he said.
The additional personnel are being repositioned to reassure NATO Allies, deter any potential aggression against NATO member states, and train with host nation forces and of course they’ll report to General Tod Wolters, the Commander of US European Command, Kirby said.
“They’re temporary in nature, and they are part of the now 90,000 US troops that are already in Europe that are both there on rotational as well as permanent orders. The US maintains significant numbers of combat capable forces in Europe. Relatedly, the US Army, Europe and Africa will be kicking off Exercise Sabre Strike 22 later this month. The exercise will run through March with approximately 13,000 participants from 13 countries,” Kirby added.
Russia began evacuating its embassy in Kyiv, and Ukraine urged its citizens to leave Russia on Wednesday as the region braced for further confrontation after President Vladimir Putin received authorization to use military force outside his country and the West responded with sanctions.
Hopes for a diplomatic way out of a new, potentially devastating war appeared all but sunk as the U.S. and key European allies accused Moscow on Tuesday of crossing a red line in rolling over Ukraine’s border into separatist regions, with some calling it an invasion.
Russia began pulling personnel from its diplomatic posts in Ukraine, state news agency Tass reported, a day after the Foreign Ministry announced a plan to evacuate, citing threats.
By Wednesday afternoon, the Russian flag was no longer flying over the embassy in Kyiv, according to an Associated Press photographer.
Police surrounded the building.
After weeks of trying to project calm, Ukrainian authorities signalled increasing concern on Wednesday.
The Foreign Ministry advised against travel to Russia and recommended anyone there leave immediately, saying Moscow’s “aggression” could lead to a significant reduction in consular services.
The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council called for a nationwide state of emergency, subject to parliamentary approval.
Oleksiy Danilov said it will be up to regional authorities to determine which measures to apply, but they could include additional protection for public facilities, restrictions on traffic, and additional transport and document checks.
It was just the latest in a series of signs of escalating tensions.
Kyiv recalled its ambassador to Russia and considered breaking all diplomatic ties with Moscow; Russia said it would evacuate personnel from its embassy in Ukraine; dozens of nations further squeezed Russian oligarchs and banks out of international markets; Germany halted a lucrative pipeline deal; the U.S. repositioned additional troops to NATO’s eastern flank bordering Russia; and the top U.S. diplomat cancelled a meeting with his Russian counterpart.
Already, the threat of war has shredded Ukraine’s economy and raised the specter of massive casualties, energy shortages across Europe and global economic chaos.
Even as the conflict took a new, dangerous turn, leaders warned it could still get worse.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to unleash the force of the 150,000 troops massed on three sides of Ukraine, while U.S. President Joe Biden held back on even tougher sanctions that could cause economic turmoil for Russia but said they would go ahead if there is further aggression.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday called European Union sanctions agreed a day before just “a first step” and also said further measures could follow.
Sanctions are key because the West has ruled out taking on Russia militarily.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged Western leaders not to wait.
“We call on partners to impose more sanctions on Russia now,” he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
“Now the pressure needs to step up to stop Putin. Hit his economy and cronies. Hit more. Hit hard. Hit now.”
Responding defiantly to the steps already taken, Russian ambassador in the U.S. Anatoly Antonov retorted that “sanctions cannot solve a thing” in a statement on Facebook.
“It is hard to imagine that there is a person in Washington who expects Russia to revise its foreign policy under a threat of restrictions.”
In Ukraine’s east, where an eight-year conflict between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed nearly 14,000 people, violence also spiked again.
One Ukrainian soldier was killed and six more sustained injuries after shelling by the rebels, Ukrainian military said.
Separatist officials reported several explosions on their territory overnight and three civilian deaths.
Since last Friday, when separatist leaders in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions announced mass evacuations into Russia, more than 96,000 residents of the separatist areas have crossed the Russian border.
After weeks of rising tensions, Putin took a series of steps this week that dramatically raised the stakes.
First, he recognized the independence of those separatist regions.
Then, he said that recognition extends even to the large parts of the territories now held by Ukrainian forces, including the major Azov Sea port of Mariupol.
Finally, he asked for and was granted permission to use military force outside the country, effectively formalizing a Russian military deployment to the rebel regions.
Still, Putin suggested there was a way out of the crisis, laying out three conditions: He called on Kyiv to recognize Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to renounce its bid to join NATO and partially demilitarize.
But it was unclear if there was actually any room for diplomacy since the first two demands had been previously rejected by Ukraine and the West as non-starters.
The Russian leader remained vague when asked whether he has sent any Russian troops into Ukraine and how far they could go, and separatist leader in Donetsk Denis Pushilin said Wednesday that there are currently no Russian troops in the region.
Pushilin’s remarks contradict those of Vladislav Brig, a member of the separatist local council in Donetsk, who told reporters Tuesday that Russian troops had already moved in.
Late Monday, convoys of armoured vehicles were seen rolling across the separatist-controlled territories.
It wasn’t immediately clear if they were Russian.
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