This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
U.S. President Joe Biden will announce a new set of sanctions against Russia this week when he meets with European allies in Brussels, his national-security adviser says.
Jake Sullivan told reporters on March 22 that “a further package of sanctions [will be] rolled out in conjunction with our allies” on March 24.
Sullivan said the actions “will focus not just on adding new sanctions but on ensuring that there is joint effort to crack down on evasion on sanctions.”
Sullivan made the comments while outlining details of Biden’s upcoming trip to Europe, where he will meet with NATO, Group of Seven (G7), and European Union allies to discuss Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine — which is in its fourth week amid fierce resistance by Ukrainian soldiers and civilians.
Biden is also scheduled to visit NATO ally Poland, which has taken in some 2 million of the more than 3.5 million Ukrainians who have fled the fighting in their home country.
Biden will also announce joint action on enhancing energy security in Europe, which has long been reliant Russian oil and natural gas supplies. Those supplies are now uncertain amid sanctions already placed on Moscow.
Asked whether Biden would move to have Russia thrown out of the Group of 20 — which gathers the leading world economies — when he meets with allies this week, Sullivan said that “we believe that it cannot be business as usual for Russia in international institutions and in the international community.”
Russia was thrown out of what used to be called the G8 following its illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.
Russia’s invasion has been greeted by widespread condemnation in most countries worldwide, although some nations — including China — have not joined the West in assailing the action or placing sanctions on Moscow.
Biden has warned China about any moves to aid Moscow’s assault on Ukraine and has urged Beijing to condemn the unprovoked invasion.
Sullivan said the United States has not seen evidence of any recent Chinese weapons shipments to its ally Russia.
“What I can tell you is we have not seen…the provision of military equipment by China to Russia. But of course, this is something we are monitoring closely,” he said.
In Poland, Biden will meet with President Andrzej Duda, who is seeking additional U.S aid and a bolstered American military presence in what has become known as NATO’s eastern flank, which also includes the Baltic states and Romania.
“We feel that it is the right place for him to go to be able to see troops, to be able to see humanitarian experts, and to be able to meet with a frontline and very vulnerable ally,” Sullivan said.
