How far Biden is willing to go to punish Russia for its latest actions remained uncertain ahead of his remarks. US officials have previewed a withering set of sanctions on Putin’s inner circle and Russia’s financial system should an assault on Ukraine move ahead.
But there were signs Biden may not impose the full scope of those potential punishments just yet, hoping to still use them as leverage in a way to deter Putin from the type of bloody and sustained attack US officials have been warning about for weeks.
Biden’s remarks come amid a hardening of the White House language on Russian’s actions Tuesday morning.
“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” US principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day,” adding the sanctions imposed Monday were the merely the “beginning” of the US response.
“An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway,” Finer said. “I am calling it an invasion.”
That was further than US officials were willing to go on Monday evening, and reflected the growing sense among Biden’s team that a fuller assault on Ukrainian territory would begin shortly. Officials said continued signs of Russian aggression overnight led to a change in tone.
Still, Finer noted Russian troops have been operating in the two separatist regions since 2014, when Russia initiated an incursion into Ukraine, and suggested the latest steps taken by Moscow were an extension of that.
“I think ‘latest’ is important here,” Finer said. “An invasion is an invasion, and that is what is underway, but Russia has been invading Ukraine since 2014.”
There are substantial numbers of Russian troops close to the borders with the newly recognized republics. But CNN has not seen social media video nor satellite imagery showing newly arrived Russian units inside either of the separatist-held regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
US still believes Putin may launch a fuller invasion
The US continues to assess it is still possible Putin moves ahead with a fuller invasion, and Western officials are being vigilant for additional indicators, according to two US officials briefed on the assessment. There may be window of dry weather, making it easier for the Russians to move heavy equipment, along with cloud cover that could help obscure movements. Still, one of the officials acknowledged “we don’t know what his next move will be.”
The developments were unfolding as Putin ordered Russian troops into two separatist-held regions of Eastern Ukraine after declaring them independent. Biden, responding in the hours after Putin signed the orders, issued a narrow set of restrictions limiting financial activity in the two regions.
But he was expected to go further a day later after consulting with European allies and processing new information showing Russia continuing apace with preparations for an imminent assault on Ukraine. It wasn’t clear yet what new consequences Biden would impose, or whether they would amount to the entirety of the harsh punishment he and other leaders have been promising should an invasion proceed.
“With regard to the latest developments, we need to reassess the situation also with regard to Nord Stream 2. It sounds very technocratic but it is the necessary administrative step in order to stop certification of the pipeline,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Berlin.
The 750-mile pipeline was completed in September but has not yet received final certification from German regulators. Without that, natural gas cannot flow through the Baltic Sea pipeline from Russia to Germany.
The United Kingdom said Tuesday it was slapping sanctions on five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals following Putin’s decision to recognize two separatist republics.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the sanctions in a statement to the UK parliament on Tuesday, saying Putin was “establishing the pretext for full scale invasion” of Ukraine.
The European Union was also preparing a first package of sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, its top official said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The package will contain proposals targeting those involved in the “illegal decision” to recognize two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and banks that are “financing Russian military and other operations in those territories.” Those sanctions will also limit Russian state and government to access the EU’s capital and financial markets.
The US sanctions to be announced Tuesday could mirror some of those being imposed by other Western nations, according to officials. Speaking on CNN, Finer said the forthcoming sanctions amounted to one wave of responses to Russia’s actions that would likely continue as the crisis unfolds.
“We envisioned waves of sanctions that we would roll out on Russia if and as it continues to take steps down the path toward war, which we believe that they are doing. We’ve said that there is another way to do this, they could pursue diplomacy. The action they took yesterday was a big step, frankly, away from diplomacy and toward conflict, and we’re going to impose sanctions in response to that,” he said.
This story has been updated to reflect the White House changing the timing of Biden’s address and additional developments on Tuesday.
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Barbara Starr and Nick Paton Walsh contributed reporting.