As all eyes in the international community are on Russia as they continue amassing troops at their border with Ukraine, Joe Biden is declaring the threat from Russia to the U.S. a “national emergency,” and slapping new sanctions for their cyberattacks, supposed election interference and more.
According to CNBC:
The Biden administration imposed a raft of new sanctions against Moscow on Thursday over alleged interference in the 2020 election, a colossal cyberattack against U.S. government and corporation networks, illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea, and human rights abuses.
“Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took sweeping action against 16 entities and 16 individuals who attempted to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election at the direction of the leadership of the Russian Government,” the Treasury said in a statement.
It also announced sanctions on five individuals and three entities linked to Russia’s occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and human rights abuses.
In addition to the broad sanctions issued by Treasury, the State Department announced it will expel 10 officials from Russia’s diplomatic mission in the United States.
These sanctions will prohibit U.S. banks from buying Russian government bonds directly from their central bank, which will make it harder for Russia’s government tor raise money. Six Russian technology companies are sanctioned for providing support to Russia’s cyber activities.
Earlier this week Biden spoke to Putin, where he proposed a summit with the two in coming months. Russia said of the call afterwards that Biden ” expressed interest in normalising the state of affairs on the bilateral track and establishing stable and predictable interaction on pressing matters such as ensuring strategic stability and arms control, Iran’s nuclear programme, the situation in Afghanistan, and global climate change.” Putin gave Biden a “maybe” on that future summit.
It took the election of Donald Trump for the left to take the threat from Russia seriously, even if it was for bogus reasons.
Despite the hysterical claims that Donald Trump was a Russian asset, he too was tough on Russia – much tougher than Obama, who infamously mocked Mitt Romney for calling Russia our #1 geopolitical foe.
In August 2017, Trump signed into law CAATSA, the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act,” which imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Russia. In the words of the geopolitical intelligence platform Stratfor, “CAATSA demonstrates that the United States is more strident than ever in pushing other countries to reduce their defense and energy ties with Russia.”
In April 2018, Trump imposed more sanctions on Russia following the indictments of 13 Russians for “malicious cyber activities” earlier in March. Russia’s stock market dropped 11% on the news. Shares of the Russian aluminum giant Rusal (which is the world’s second largest aluminum company) tanked 40% on the news.
Matt Palumbo is the author of Dumb and Dumber: How Cuomo and de Blasio Ruined New York, Debunk This: Shattering Liberal Lies, and Spygate
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