On Thursday, President Biden is gearing up to announce a set of measures against Russia which comes after Moscow’s suspected involvement in changing election results, and an extensive hacking drive that targeted several agencies last year. Although the exact details of the retaliatory measures are unknown, it will most probably incorporate sanctions, including the banishment of Russian diplomats.
The sanctions introduced by President Biden will heavily strain America’s existing and future relationships with Russia. As stated by the Wall Street Journal, the new rule would restrict financial bodies who trade in Russian government debt by ensuring that they don’t buy bonds from any of Russia’s financial institutions such as the Central Bank or the Sovereign wealth fund after June 14.
Hence, a stipulated period would be provided for the U.S to curb their existing relations, as well as put a halt to any anticipated relations in the bag. Moreover, President Biden does not want his land to be populated by Russian Diplomats. The Biden administration will give a month for the Russian Diplomats residing in New York and Washington DC to leave the country permanently, said CNN.
It is important to note that the Biden administration didn’t intend on fostering such a hostile attitude. Initially, President Biden only intended on curbing their actions due to the SolarWinds hack. However, the circumstances that arose from Moscow’s unfair practices have led them to reconsider their decision. They have now unanimously decided to weigh that in along with other suspected Russian activities such as the consistent interference in the election process and the placement of bounties on soldiers in Afghanistan.
These retaliatory responses had been on the agenda for a while now but hadn’t yet been executed because President Biden was dissatisfied with the ideas put forward by the State Department. Hence, the White House took a considerably longer time to evaluate the costs and benefits of their proposed sanctions before it announced it in public.
Even though President Biden has faced innumerable difficulties from the opposition, it has still stated its profound interest and unwavering readiness to work with Moscow, only if it favors the U.S as a whole. He went ahead to call Russian President Putin and sent out an open invitation to convene somewhere and voice out their respective concerns face-to-face. Despite the extended invite, Russia is yet to respond to Biden’s idea of a truce.
