water there at all. this is the same reason yemen -- president biden: sorry to keep you waiting. good afternoon. the russian military has begun a brutal assault on the people of ukraine without provocation, justification, necessity. this is a premeditated attack. vladimir putin has been planning this for months. as we have been saying all along . he moved more than 100 75,000 troops and military equipment into positions along the ukrainian border. he moved to blood supplies into position to build a field hospital, which tells you all you need to know about his

intentions all along. he rejected every good faith effort the u.s., allies, and art nursemaid to address mutual security concerns through dialogue to avoid needless conflict and avert human suffering. for weeks, for weeks we have been warning that this would happen. and now it is unfolding large -- unfolding largely as we protected. in the past week we have seen shelling increase in the donbass . the russian government has perpetrated cyber attacks against ukraine. we saw staged political theater in moscow. outlandish and baseless claims that ukraine was about to invade and launch a war against russia. that ukraine was prepared to use chemical weapons. that ukraine committed a genocide without any evidence.

we saw flagrant violation of international law in attempting to unilaterally create two new so-called republics on sovereign ukrainian territory. and at the very moment that the un security council was meeting to stand up for ukrainian sovereignty to stave off invasion, putin declared his war . within moments, moments, missile strikes began to fall on historic cities across ukraine. then came the air raids. followed by tanks and troops rolling in. we have been transparent with the world. we shared classified evidence about the russian plans, cyber attacks, and false pretenses, so that there could be no confusion or cover-up about what putin was doing. putin is the aggressor. putin chose this war and now he and his country will bear the consequences. today i'm authorizing additional

strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to russia. this is going to impose severe costs on the russian economy both immediately and over time. we have purposefully designed to these sanctions to maximize a long-term impact on russia and to minimize the impact on the united states and our allies. i want to be clear, the united states is not doing this alone. for months we have been building a coalition of partners representing half the global economy. 27 members of the european union . including france, germany, italy, the united kingdom, japan, australia, new zealand and many others, to amplify the joint impact of our response. i spoke with g7 leaders this morning and we are in full and total agreement to limit the russian ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen, to be part of the global

economy. we would limit their ability to do that. we will stop their ability to finance and grow the russian military. we will impose major and impair their ability to compete in high-tech 21st century economy. we have seen the impact of our actions on the russian currency, the ruble, earlier today hitting its weakest level ever in history. the russian stock market plunged today. the russian garrow -- government borrowing rates spiked by 15%. today's actions, we have now sanctioned russian banks that together hold around $1 trillion in assets and have cut off their largest bank, which holds more than one third of their banking assets by itself. cut it off from the u.s. financial system. today we are also blocking for more major banks. meaning every asset they have in america will be frozen.

including the second largest bank in russia, which has 250 billion dollars in assets. as promised we are also adding names to the list of russian elites and their family members that were sanctioned as well. as i set on tuesday, these are people who personally gain from kremlin policies and they should share in the pain. we will keep up this drumbeat of those designations against corrupt billionaires in the days ahead. on tuesday we stop the russian government from raising money from u.s. or european investors. now we will apply the same restrictions to their largest state-owned enterprises. companies with assets that exceed $1.4 trillion. some of the most powerful impacts of our actions will come over time as we squeeze russian access to finances, technology, strategic sectors of their

economy, degrading its industrial capacity for years to come. between our actions and those of our allies and partners we estimate we will cut off more than half of russian high-tech imports. it will strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military, degrading their aerospace industry, including their space program. hurting their ability to build ships. reducing their ability to compete economically and it will be a major hit to the long-term strategic ambitions and we are preparing to do more. in addition to the economic penalties we are imposing we are taking steps to defend our nato allies. peptic early. tomorrow nato will convene a summit. we will be there to bring together the leaders of 30 allied nations in close partnership to affirm our solidarity and map out the next steps we will take to further strengthen all aspects of our nato alliance.

although we have provided 600 $50 million in defense of to ukraine just this year, this last year, let me say it again, our forces are not and will not be engaged in the conflict with russia in ukraine. our forces are not going to europe to fight in ukraine, but to defend nato allies and reassure the allies in the east. as i made crystal clear, the united states will defend every inch of nato territory with the full force of american power. and the good news is that nato is more united and determined than ever. there is no doubt that the united states and every nato ally will meet our article five commitments, which say that an attack on one is an attack on all. we have ordered thousands of additional forces to germany and poland as a part of our commitment to nato. tuesday, in response to the

russian aggressive actions i have authorized deployment of ground and air forces already stationed in europe to the stern flank allies estonia, latvia, lithuania, poland, and romania. our allies have also been stepping up, adding the other allies, the rest of nato, their own forces and capabilities to ensure collective defense. today, within hours of russia unleashing the assault, nato came together to activate response plans. this will enable high readiness forces to deploy when and where they are needed to protect our allies on the eastern boundaries of europe. now i am authorizing additional u.s. force capabilities in germany as a part of the nato response including the u.s.-based forces that the department of defense placed on standby weeks ago.

i have also spoken with defense secretary austen and chairman of the joint chiefs general milley about preparations for additional moves, should they become necessary to protect nato allies and support the greatest military alliance in the history of the world, nato. as we respond, my administration is using every tool at its disposal to protect american families and businesses from rising prices at the gas pump, taking active steps to bring down the costs. american and what -- american oil and gas companies should not exploit this moment to raise profits. our sanctions package is designed to a loud payments to continue and we will monitor for disruptions. we are coordinating carefully towards a common interest with oil producing countries. we are actively working with countries around the world to

elevate collective release from the strategic petroleum reserves of major energy consuming countries and the u.s. will release additional barrels of oil as conditions warrant. i know this is hard and that americans are already hurting. i will do everything in my power to limit the pain the american people feel at the gas pump. this aggression cannot go unanswered. if it did, the consequences for america would be much worse. america stands up to bullies, stand up for freedom. this is who we are. let me also repeat the warning i made last week. if russia pursues cyber attacks against our companies and critical infrastructure, we are prepared to respond. for months we have been working closely with the private sector to harden our defenses and sharpen our ability to respond to cyber attacks as well.

last night i spoke to president zelensky of ukraine and i assured him that the u.s. together with allies and partners in europe will support the indian people as they defend their country and provide humanitarian relief to ease their suffering. in the early days of the conflicts, russian propaganda will be claiming success against a made-up threat but history has shown time and again how swift gains in territory eventually give way to grinding occupations , acts of mass civil disobedience, and strategic dead ends. the next few weeks and months, our heart goes to the people in ukraine. putin has unleashed something terrible on them. those people have known 30 years of independence and repeatedly shown they won't tolerate anyone who tries to take their country backwards.

this is a dangerous moment for all of europe. for the freedom around the world . putin has committed an assault on the principles that uphold global peace. now the entire world sees clearly what he and his kremlin allies are really all about. this was never about genuine security concerns on their part. it was always about naked aggression and his desire for empire by any means necessary. by bullying russian neighbors into coercion, corruption, changing borders by force and choosing a war without a cause. his actions the tray a sinister vision for the future of our world. one where nations take what they want by force. it is a vision that the united states and freedom loving nations everywhere oppose. the u.s., our allies and

partners, will emerge from this stronger, more united but determined, and. putin's aggression against ukraine will end up costing russia dearly, economically and strategically. we will make sure of that. let a mere putin will be a pariah on the international stage. any nation countenancing this aggression will be stained by association. when the history of this era is written, the putin choice to make a unjustifiable war on ukraine, will have left russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger. liberty, democracy, human dignity. these are the forces that are more powerful than fear and oppression. cannot be erased from the hearts of people and their hope through violence and intimidation. they endure.

the contest between democracy and autocracy, sovereignty and and may god protect our troops. >> do you have plans to speak with president putin at this point? president biden: do i have plans at this point, i heard the first part -- >> trying to make sure it doesn't spiral into a larger conflict. president biden: it's a large conflict already. two keep it from spiraling we will provide all the forces needed in the eastern european nations that are members of nato. nato is more united than it has ever been.

>> is there a reason why the u.s. isn't doing that? is there disagreement among allies regarding the swift and whether russia should be allowed to be a part of it? pres. biden: the sanctions we proposed on their banks are of equal consequence, maybe more than swift, number one. two it's always an option but right now that is not the position the rest of europe wishes to take. cecelia vega, abc. >> sanctions have clearly not been enough to deter vladimir putin to this point. what is going to stop him? him trying to go beyond ukraine? i will give you this second question now, his statement last

night, the threat that he said, the west will face consequences greater than any history. is he threatening nuclear strike? pres. biden: i have no idea what he is threatening. i know what he has done, number one. number two, no one suspected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening. this is going to take time and we have to show resolve. so, he knows what's coming. the people of russia know that -- know what he has brought on them. it's not going to occur that he said my god, sanctions are coming and i will stand down. he will test our resolve to see if we stay together and we will. > two topics real quick. first, markets are down and gas prices up. i know you threaten the

difference between wall street and main street, but everybody seems to be in for some economic pain. how economically painful is going to get for people in this country? and i have one more question. pres. biden: first of all, there is no doubt that when a major nuclear power attacks and invades another country that the world is going to respond, and markets will respond all over the world. there is no doubt about that. number one. number two, the notion that this is going to last for a long time is highly unlikely, as long as we continue to stay resolved and imposed the sanctions we are going to impose on russia, period. >> the next question is, did you underestimate putin, and would you describe him as a worthy adversary, like you did in the summer? pres. biden: at the time, i made it clear he wasn't adversary and

worthy. i did not underestimate him. i have read almost everything he has written -- did you read -- i am being a wise guy. you heard the speech he made and why he was going into ukraine. he has much larger ambitions in ukraine. heat wants to reestablish -- he wants to reestablish the former soviet union. that is what this is about. i think his ambitions are completely contrary to the place where the rest of the world has arrived. >> you are confident that these devastating sanctions are going to be as devastating as russian missiles on bullets and tanks. pres. biden: yes. russian missiles and bullets and tanks in ukraine, yes, i am. >> if sanctions cannot stop president putin, what penalty can? pres. biden: i do not say they

cannot stop him. >> you have talked about the threat of sanctions for weeks. pres. biden: with that threat, the imposing of sanctions and seeing the effects are two different things. now, he is going to begin to see the effects of the sanctions. >> and what will that do? how will that change his mindset? pres. biden: because it will weaken his country that he will have to make a very difficult choice on whether to continue to move toward being a second-rate power or respond. >> you said in recent weeks that big nations cannot bluff when it comes to something like this. you recently said the idea of personally sanctioning president putin was on the table. is that a step you are prepared to take? pres. biden: it is not a bluff. it is on the table. >> sanctioning president putin? why not sanction him today, sir? >> you detailed severe ends with sanctions today and said the impact it will have over time, given the full-scale invasion,

given that you are not pursuing disconnecting russia from what is called swift, international banking system, or other sanctions at your disposal. respectfully, sir, what more are you waiting for? pres. biden:pres. biden: specifically, the sanctions we impose -- pres. biden: specifically, the sanctions we imposed exceed swift and anything we have done. they have generated two thirds of the world joining us. they are profound sanctions. let's have a conversation in another month or so to see if they are working. >> can i ask about volodymyr zelensky? you spoke to him yesterday, sir. is there now a complete rupture in u.s. and russia relations? pres. biden: there is a complete rupture right now in u.s. and russia relations if they continue on the path they are on. in terms of the cold war, that depends. you have the vast majority of the rest of the world in total opposition of what he is doing, from asia to south america, to

europe to around the world. we will be a cold day for russia. you don't see a lot of people coming to his defense. >> are you urging china to help isolate russia? pres. biden: i am not prepared to comment on that through the moment. [indiscernible] yeah? no. he has had his hand up a long time. >> how concerned are you that putin wants to go beyond ukraine, and other countries in the u.s. will have to get involved if t moves into nato countries? pres. biden: if he did move to nato countries, he would be involved. i am convinced that if we do not move against him now, he will be emboldened. if we don't move against him now

with significant sanctions, he will be emboldened. anyway, -- [indiscernible] [shouting over each other] pres. biden: i am sorry, i cannot hear you. >> is india fully with you on the issue of ukraine and russia? pres. biden: does the defense department? >> india is one of your major defense partners. is india fully in sync with the united states on russia? pres. biden: we are in consultation with india today. we have not resolved that completely. thank you very much. >> ukraine, while

briefing reporters at the u.s. capitol. his remarks are about 10 minutes.