Washington, Jan 26: US President Joe Biden has said he would consider imposing personal sanctions on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin if Moscow invades Ukraine. Responding to questions on whether he would personally sanction Putin over an invasion into Ukraine, Biden said, “Yes, I would see that.”
BBC quoted him as saying that such a move across Ukraine’s border would mean “enormous consequences worldwide” and could amount to “the largest invasion since World War Two”. “We have to make it clear that there’s no reason for anyone, any member of NATO, to worry whether… NATO would come to their defence,” he said while clarifying that there were no plans to send US troops to Ukraine itself. The President, however, said he wasn’t certain if Putin will actually invade Ukraine.
“I don’t think even his people know for certain,” he said while comparing the status of the invasion to “reading tea leaves”. His comments came as other Western leader issue repeated warnings that Russia would have to pay a heavy price for invasion. According to BBC, Moscow has built up troops at the border, with some 100,000 Russian soldiers deployed in the region. Meanwhile, Russia has accused the US and NATO for “escalating tensions” in the region and also denied that it plans to invade Ukraine.Â
