Biden targets Russian banks, sovereign debt in ‘first tranche’ of sanctions over Ukraine invasion

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the U.S. is sanctioning two Russian banks as well as the country’s sovereign debt, as he blamed Moscow for what he called the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine. 

Biden called the sanctions the “first tranche” of such measures and said the U.S. “will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates.” 

Two Russian financial institutions, VEB and Russia’s military bank, will be sanctioned, Biden said — making it difficult to do transactions in U.S. dollars DXY, 0.05%. And the U.S. is targeting Russia’s debt so Russia “can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade its new debt on our markets, or European markets, either,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. 

U.S. stock indexes SPX, -0.16% DJIA, -0.13% closed sharply lower Tuesday as investors reacted to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to order troops to breakaway regions of Ukraine.