Ukraine pushes EU to make draft Russia sanctions public

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that it is time for the European Union to publicly share what sanctions it plans to impose on Russia in the event of an invasion into Ukraine. 

“Make it available for the Russians, for everyone, so that the Russians can see what awaits for them,” Kuleba said, according to Politico.

“We hear discussions about the severity of sanctions, but it’s time to go into specifics,” he added. “Otherwise Russia may think it’s just about bluffing.”

Officials in the U.S. and the European Union have said that the sanctions would be harsher than any previously imposed on Russia, ensuring a significant impact on the country’s financial sector as well as technology exports.

The United Kingdom has said that it would impose new laws to expand the range of sanctions it can place on Russia and individuals connected to the Kremlin in an effort to dissuade Moscow from a possible act of aggression against Kyiv.

Meanwhile, E.U leaders agreed in December to impose more economic sanctions on Moscow in the event of an invasion. 

“Any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe cost in response, including restrictive measures coordinated with partners,” the leaders said in a statement, referencing their allies in the U.S. and U.K., France 24 reported at the time.

Kuleba’s remarks come as Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops along its border with Ukraine. Though Moscow has denied its intention to invade Ukraine, the Biden administration has worked over the past several weeks to amplify its deterrents against possible attack.

But on Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the administration would no longer describe the threat of a Russian attack as “imminent.”

“We stopped using it because I think it sent a message that we weren’t intending to send, which was that we knew that President Putin had made a decision,” Psaki said to reporters during a briefing.  

Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that it would deploy 3,000 troops to Germany, Poland and Romania in an effort to help prepare for the possibility of an attack.