Western nations punished Russia with new sanctions

Western nations have clamped new sanctions on Russia for ordering troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine. The United States, the European Union and Britain announced plans to target banks and elites while Germany halted a major gas pipeline project from Russia.

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

"We're implementing sanctions on Russia's sovereign debt. That means we've cut off Russia's government from Western financing," Biden said, threatening tougher steps if Russia "continues its aggression."

Before the US, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday moved first, suspending the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, which directly links Russian gas to Europe via Germany. The pipeline is complete but not yet operational.

The United Kingdom has imposed tough sanctions against five Russian banks and three businessmen, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson described as the "first tranche” of measures in response to Russian troops moving into two breakaway regions of Ukraine.

The European Union, too, announced sanctions, targeting the 351 Duma legislators who voted in favour of recognising the separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.