Biden says US will not be intimidated by Putin’s ‘reckless words and threats’: ‘He’s not going to scare us’

‘America and its allies ... are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats. He’s not going to scare us and he doesn’t intimidate us’

President Joe Biden on Friday said the United States and its allies will not back down on supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion forces despite Vladimir Putin’s claims to have annexed the country’s Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson regions.

“America and its allies ... are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats. He’s not going to scare us and he doesn’t intimidate us,” said Mr Biden, who offered the remarks about Moscow’s latest escalation in the conflict at the end of an update regarding his administration’s response to Hurricane Ian.

The president said Mr Putin’s latest actions, including the “sham referenda” carried out by Russian forces just days ago and the ceremony to declare the purported annexation which the Russian leader hosted at the Kremlin on Friday, are a “a sign he is struggling”.

The president’s remarks come just hours after Mr Putin declared Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson to be “four new regions of Russia” in a speech at the Kremlin which took place just days after Russian soldiers and proxies ran what the west has described as sham referenda in those regions, often conducted by soldiers collecting ballots at gunpoint.

Ukraine and Western governments have described those votes as bogus and illegitimate. They have constantly said they will not recognise the votes or the annexations, but Mr Putin has defiantly declared that the Ukrainian citizens in those regions are becoming Russian citizens in perpetuity.

“This is the will of millions of people,” Mr Putin said. “I want the Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that they remember this. People living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens. Forever”.

But Mr Biden said the Russian leader’s claims won’t pass muster in Washington or with the international community.

“The United States is never going to recognize this. And quite frankly, the world's not going to recognize it either. He can't seize his neighbors territory and get away with it,” he said. “It’s as simple as that”.

He added that the US and the rest of the Western alliance would continue to “stay the course” and support Kyiv with military aid to allow Ukrainian forces to continue their defence of their country.

Mr Biden also cautioned Moscow to remember that the US and Nato remain “fully prepared” to defend “every square inch” of the alliance’s territory.

“Mr Putin, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying,” he said. “Every inch.”

In a statement earlier on Friday, Mr Biden also slammed what he described as Russia’s “phony claims of annexation” and announced the imposition of new sanctions on Russian officials by the US government, calling Russia’s actions an example of Moscow “violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere”.

“Make no mistake: these actions have no legitimacy. The United States will always honor Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. We will continue to support Ukraine’s efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically, including through the $1.1bn in additional security assistance the United States announced this week,” Mr Biden said.

The president added that the US will “rally the international community to both denounce these moves and to hold Russia accountable” and “continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment it needs to defend itself, undeterred by Russia’s brazen effort to redraw the borders of its neighbor”.

Mr Biden’s condemnation of Moscow’s latest actions accompanied announcements by the US Treasury, Commerce and State departments that each had levied new sanctions on Russia with the aim of imposing what a White House official called “swift and severe consequences” for Moscow’s purported annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson.

The four Ukrainian regions, in yellow, that Russia annexed in September 2022 (Independent)

“We are targeting additional Russian government officials and leaders, their family members, Russian and Belarusian military officials, and defense procurement networks, including international suppliers supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex,” the official said, adding that the new sanctions represent a “clear message” from the US government and the Group of Seven that there will be “costs” going forward “for any individual, entity, or country that provides political or economic support to Russia as a result of its illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory”.

As part of the new round of sanctions, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control is now designating 14 new persons who are part of the Russian military-industrial complex, including international suppliers, Russian financial leaders, family members of senior Russian officials and 278 members of the Russian legislature “or enabling Russia’s sham referenda and attempt to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory”.

Among those now sanctioned are Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, the Governor of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and Olga Nikolaevna Skorobogatova, the bank’s First Deputy Governor.

“We will not stand by as Putin fraudulently attempts to annex parts of Ukraine. The Treasury Department and U.S. government are taking sweeping action today to further weaken Russia’s already degraded military industrial complex and undermine its ability to wage its illegal war,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

Ms Yellen added that the US is also “targeting key leaders in Russia’s financial architecture as part of our aggressive and coordinated effort to hold Putin and his enablers accountable for his unprovoked invasion, and limit their ability to prop up their economy”.

Additionally, the State Department announced that it is levying visa restrictions on 910 Russian and Belorussian officials, as well as Russian proxies in Ukraine. The department will also add two family members of Russian National Security Council members by designating Olga Sergeevna Sobyanina and Anna Sergeevna Ershova “for being the adult children of Moscow mayor and Russian Security Council member Sergey Sobyanin,” who is already subject to US sanctions.

The Treasury and State departments are also sanctioning the wife and adult children of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, as well as the wife and adult children of Defence Minister Sergei Shogun.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the purported annexation of Ukrainian territory “is a clear violation of international law and the United Nations Charter”.

“We will hold to account any individual, entity, or country that provides political or economic support for Russia’s illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory,” Mr Blinken said.