Washington is pursuing Ukraine’s goals, but not necessarily the way Kiev wants, a senior Treasury official said
The US is attempting to damage the Russian economy in order to stop the military attack on Ukraine. However, the US government does not respond on more extreme calls from Kiev like the suggestion that Russian trade vessels be prevented from accessing international waters. This was stated by Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Treasury Secretary of the United States, during a Monday interview with CNBC.
Adeyemo sat down with the network’s senior White House correspondent, Kayla Tausche, to explain how the US was successfully using economic sanctions to hurt the Russian economy with the purported goal of stopping the military offensive against Kiev. According to the official, Russia feels the pinch. This is evident by the continued suspension of domestic stock trading, devaluation and restriction on foreign currency withdrawals from banks.
Tausche asked him about the request that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly made to his US counterpart, Joe Biden to block Russia’s access to international waterways. Adeyemo neither confirmed nor denied that Washington was considering the proposal, saying instead that the US was committed to pursuing Ukraine’s cause.
“We’re going to use export controls to degrade [Russia’s] ability to project power into the future, all of which are consistent with what President Zelensky has been asking us to do,” the Treasury’s second most senior officer said.
Blocking a nation’s trade ships from using international waters by force would be considered an act of war. In fact, the US has for decades declared freedom of navigation to be a major foreign policy priority – the Pentagon has sent warships on missions in the South China Sea on numerous occasions, including parts claimed by China.
Kiev made several other suggestions to the US and its allies, which would have forced them to resort to military force against Russia. NATO member nations could establish a no-fly zone in Ukraine that would prohibit Russian military planes from operating within its airspace. Washington stated repeatedly that its military would not be involved in the Ukrainian crisis. It feared it might escalate into world war.
CNBC host, Lisa McDonough suggested the possibility of a complete Russia trade blockade when she asked Washington whether it thought restricting Russia’s exports was too costly.
Adeyemo stated that the Biden administration views sanctions against Russia as a priority. “with an eye towards mitigation,”Bedeutung “making sure that we are having a minimal impact on our economy.”This is evident in the US oil embargo, which he said is an example of such an approach. The US consumes most oil and has the power to act against Moscow from that position.
Although the US official admitted that sanctions will face some resistance, he claimed that they would be successful. “the American people and our allies are willing to pay a cost in order to make sure that we defend freedom.”
Also, he took aim at China by claiming that it would not be able substitute for Western countries in meeting the demands of the Russian economy as well as the sanctions-restricted Russian elites.
“China can’t give Russia what it doesn’t have. China doesn’t have cutting edge technology,” Adeyemo said.
“When you think about Russian elites, they are not buying homes in Shanghai and Beijing, they are buying them in London and in New York. And what we’ve agreed to do among the G7 is both freeze their assets and seize their assets.”
Washington anticipates China’s cooperation, according to the deputy secretary. “like every other country in the world,”To abide by the restrictions. Beijing has been highly critical of the sanctions and accused the US of instigating the crisis in Ukraine in the first place by pursuing NATO’s eastward expansion towards Russia’s borders.
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