The United Kingdom quickly followed suit, and more pain came from the European Union as allies pushed forward with an escalating campaign to tighten the financial screws on Russian President Vladimir Putin for “war crimes” in Ukraine.
In staffing, US sanctions have singled out Putin’s family, targeting his two adult daughters in addition to shutting down two key Russian banks.
Biden said “Russia has already failed in its initial war” after the return of Russian troops from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.  He warned, however, that “this fight is far from over.”
“This war could go on for a long time, but the United States will continue to stand by Ukraine and the Ukrainians in the struggle for freedom,” Biden said.  “We will stifle Russia’s ability to grow for years to come.”
The latest sanctions underscore the economic pain Russia is facing as evidence that its troops have killed Ukrainian civilians has led to tougher sanctions by the United States and its Western allies, which erode Putin’s ability to fight.
While rounds of increased sanctions have not forced Putin out of the war, they have plunged Russia into increasingly desperate economic conditions as Ukrainian forces withstand its barrages.  The key to the effectiveness of sanctions was unity between the United States and European nations.  And the atrocities unleashed in Ukraine have intensified pressure on Germany and other countries to go further and involve the US and Lithuania in blocking all Russian energy exports.
The United Kingdom on Wednesday pledged assets to major banks, banned British investment in Russia and pledged to end its dependence on Russian coal and oil by the end of the year.
The European Union was also expected to take additional measures soon, including a ban on new investment in Russia and a carbon embargo, following recent reports of Russian troops withdrawing from the city of Bucha.
The United States has cracked down on two of Russia’s largest banks, Sberbank and Alfa Bank, by barring assets from passing through the US financial system and barring Americans from doing business with the two institutions.
In addition to the sanctions targeting Putin’s adult daughters, Maria Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, the United States is targeting Prime Minister Mikhail Misustin.  the wife and children of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov; and members of Russia’s Security Council, including Dmitry Medvedev, a former president and prime minister.
Sanctions cut all close members of Putin’s family from the US financial system and freeze assets held in the United States.
Biden was expected to sign an executive order banning new American investment in Russia, regardless of where they live.  The US Treasury Department was preparing more sanctions against Russian state-owned companies, according to the White House.
Britain has announced a freeze on assets targeting Sberbank and Moscow’s Credit Bank and has named eight Russian oligarchs whom Putin says he “uses to support his war economy”.
“Together with our allies, we are showing the Russian elite that they can not wash their hands of the atrocities committed on Putin’s orders,” said British Foreign Secretary Liz Truz.
Britain had already announced a plan to phase out Russian oil, which accounts for 8% of the UK supply.  Russia is the UK’s leading supplier of imported coal, although UK demand for polluting fuels has plummeted over the past decade.
Britain has not stopped importing Russian gas, which accounts for 4% of its supply, saying only that it will do so “as soon as possible”.
Videos and images of corpses in the streets of Bukha after it was recaptured by Russian forces have sparked a wave of outrage among Western allies, who have imposed new sanctions in response.
The European Commission’s proposed ban on coal imports will be the first EU sanctions aimed at Russia’s lucrative energy industry over the war in Ukraine.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said energy was key to Putin’s war funds.  And because the war has pushed prices higher, Russia has taken advantage of the opportunity to sell its gas and oil to the rest of the world.
“One billion euros is what we pay Putin every day for the energy he has provided us since the beginning of the war. We have given him 35 billion euros. Compare that to the one billion we gave Ukraine in arms and ammunition,” Borrell said.
The steady intensification of sanctions is less of a sign of their shortcomings than of building pressure on Russia as it seeks foreign investment and commodities, Brian Dees, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters Wednesday morning.  “We have to be patient and perspective on the implications for Russia of this unprecedented and mutilating sanctions regime,” Diss said at an event sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.
Deese noted that Russian inflation runs at 2% per week, which would occur at an annual rate of more than 200% per year.  He noted that the Biden government expects that Russian prices will not increase by more than 200% this year.
While the White House said Russia should not attend the G20 summit in Indonesia in November, it noted that it could leave the organization anyway because its economy has shrunk so dramatically.
After several European countries announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats, the European Commission proposed a fifth package of sanctions, including a ban on coal imports, which could be approved once unanimously approved by the 27-nation bloc ambassadors.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that the coal ban amounts to 4 billion euros ($ 4.4 billion) a year and that the EU has already begun work on additional sanctions, including oil imports.
He did not mention gas, with consensus among the 27 EU countries on targeting fuels used to generate electricity and heating homes that are difficult to secure amid opposition from gas-dependent members, such as Germany, the largest economy of the bloc.
However, European Council President Charles Michel said the bloc should continue to put pressure on the Kremlin, suggesting that an embargo on gas imports should also be required at some point in the future.
“The new package includes a ban on coal imports,” Michelle said on Wednesday.  “I think measures will also be needed for oil and even gas, sooner or later.”
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Petrequin reported from Brussels.  Associated Press writers Zeke Miller in Washington and Jill Lawless in London contributed to the report.
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