The retaliatory measures follow President Vladimir Putin's decision Monday evening to deploy forces into the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics and assertion that those regions' borders are farther than previously recognized, Biden said in a Tuesday press conference.
The sanctions, effective immediately, will target major state-owned Russian financial institutions Vnesheconombank and Promsvyazbank and their subsidiaries, as well as the nation's elites, and block U.S. entities from buying Russian sovereign debt, a key method for the nation to raise funds, Biden said.
"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."
Because Vnesheconombank is critical to the nation's ability to raise funds and Promsvyazbank specializes in defense sector loans, the sanctions will target Russia's ability to finance defense contracts and raise funds for its campaign against Ukraine, the U.S. Department of Commerce elaborated in a Tuesday statement.
Biden also announced that he has ordered U.S. troops already stationed in Europe to bolster forces in nearby Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He clarified that the move is "totally defensive" and that the U.S. has no intention of fighting Russia.
But Biden acknowledged that his administration believes Russia is poised to attack Ukraine, saying the nation now has 150,000 troops surrounding Ukraine from the North and the South and has moved supplies, blood and medical equipment to the border.
"You don't need blood unless you plan on starting a war," Biden said Tuesday, adding that the U.S. remains open to diplomacy "if it is serious."
The move follows on the heels of an earlier set of sanctions announced in a Monday executive order barring individuals in the U.S. from investing, trading or financing in the two breakaway regions. The executive order also sets out the authority to impose sanctions on individuals operating in the region.
Biden threatened further sanctions if Russia proceeds to invade Ukraine.
Both sets of retaliatory measures come after Putin signed decrees on Monday recognizing the two regions in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, the focus of the so-called Minsk agreements inked between Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists between 2014 and 2015 drawing down conflict in the region. Biden deemed the decrees a violation of the Minsk agreements in his Tuesday order.
The measures join a wave of sanctions levied by Western nations.
The European Union unanimously agreed to a sanctions package hitting the 351 Russian lawmakers who voted to recognize the two regions and 27 other individuals and entities undermining Ukraine's sovereignty, EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell Fontelles said in a tweet.
Also on Tuesday, Germany halted a certification process for the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline extending to Russia.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced at a Berlin press conference that he asked the country's Federal Ministry of Economics to withdraw a report needed to certify the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline after Russia's recognition of the breakaway regions rendered the situation "fundamentally different."
The U.K. also froze the assets of five Russian banks and three individuals that HM Treasury's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation determined were "involved in destabilizing Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine."
Biden acknowledged that the sanctions may cause some pain for Americans at the gas pump, but added that his administration is working to make sure the fallout from the sanctions falls solely on the Russian economy.
House Republicans had criticized the White House's initial measures as too lenient a response to Russian aggression on Tuesday, before the second set of sanctions were unveiled.
"Congress should compel President Biden to take the tough steps his administration has opposed thus far, we must permanently end Nord Stream 2, implement secondary sanctions on Russian financial institutions, and impose crippling penalties on the industries which the Russian military relies on to make war," House Armed Services Committee ranking member Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said.
Representatives for the pair didn't respond to requests for an updated comment following Biden's announcement.
A representative from the Russian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
--Additional reporting by Najiyya Budaly. Editing by Emily Kokoll.
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