President Joe Biden has announced that the United States is banning all imports of Russian energy amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Although other nations in the front against Putin’s aggression weren’t undertaking such drastic steps, Biden added in his remarks rolling out these latest developments that American officials were working with strategic partners to reduce their reliance on Russian energy. Pointedly, Biden summarized as follows, discussing the U.S. and allies:
‘Today, we remain united in our purpose: to keep pressure mounting on Putin and his war machine. This is a step that we’re taking to inflict further pain on Putin… Shipments of defensive weapons are arriving in Ukraine every day from the United States, and we, the United States, are the ones coordinating the delivery from our allies and partners of similar weapons — from Germany to Finland to the Netherlands… We are enforcing the most significant package of economic sanctions in history, and it’s causing significant damage to Russia’s economy… Putin’s war has caused enormous suffering and needless loss of life… Putin seems determined to continue on his murderous path, no matter the cost… Russia may continue to grind out its advance at a horrible price, but this much is already clear: Ukraine will never be a victory for Putin. Putin may be able to take a city. But he’ll never be able to hold the country.’
Today, I’m announcing that the United States is targeting a main artery of Russia’s economy.
We are banning all imports of Russian oil and gas.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 8, 2022
Among other points, Biden added that blocking Russian energy imports into the U.S. threatened to further strain domestic gas prices and that the United States has also been working on the delivery of substantial tranches of humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian people affected by the unfolding disaster. On a note similar to that latter point, Biden also indicated that the United States would participate in caring for refugees from Ukraine. Biden additionally addressed criticisms related to the former point; as he put it, shutting down conspiratorial Republican insinuations, it’s “simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production… Even amid the pandemic, companies in the United States pumped more oil during my first year in office than they did during my predecessor’s first year.” Millions of acres of federal lands have already been leased for drilling purposes, he said, so the push for a cleaner energy system isn’t at fault here as gas prices broadly rise. Watch Biden below:
