Biden says Russia should be booted from G-20; Russia’s economy has shrunk in half since invading Ukraine: Live updates
Group of 20 nations in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, a major step that would further isolate the Kremlin and restrict Russia’s say in the global economy.
Russia’s membership in the group, which represents the world’s major economies, was discussed during an emergency meeting with key U.S. allies, Biden told reporters Thursday during a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
He noted that the decision on whether to boot Russia from the group is up to other G-20 members. If the other members decline to revoke Russia’s membership, Ukraine should be permitted to attend G-20 meetings, Biden said.
The G-20 includes not only Western democracies but also tyrannical and authoritarian countries such as China and Saudi Arabia. The group works to address major issues impacting the global economy.
Mapping and tracking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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Latest developments:
►Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk says Ukraine and Russia exchanged a total of 50 military and civilian prisoners Thursday.
►Bulgaria is recalling its ambassador to Moscow for consultations in response to “undiplomatic, sharp and rude” statements made by Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova. Mitrofanova said Monday that Bulgarians do not “support the rhetoric and actions of their government” regarding Russia’s invasion.
►Herman Gref, the head of Russia’s largest bank and a close Putin associate, was among those targeted by sanctions the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled Thursday. As CEO of Sberbank, Gref, 58, also oversees a large number of companies owned by Sberbank in other industries, the department said.
►The Russian stock market resumed limited trading Thursday under heavy restrictions almost one month after prices plunged and the market was shut down following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine says Moscow is forcibly taking civilians to Russia
Ukraine accused Moscow on Thursday of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of civilians from shattered Ukrainian cities to Russia, where some may be used as “hostages” to pressure Kyiv to give up.
Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s ombudsperson, said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, have been taken against their will.
The Kremlin gave nearly identical numbers for those who have been relocated, but said they wanted to go to Russia. Ukraine’s rebel-controlled eastern regions are predominantly Russian-speaking, and many people there have supported close ties to Moscow.
Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said the roughly 400,000 people evacuated to Russia since the start of the military action were from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have been fighting for control for nearly eight years.
Russian authorities said they are providing accommodations and dispensing payments to the evacuees.
Ukrainian officials said that the Russians are taking people’s passports and moving them to “filtration camps” in Ukraine’s separatist-controlled east before sending them to various distant, economically depressed areas in Russia.
Poll shows Americans support Russian sanctions, think Biden should be tougher
A majority of Americans are supportive of the harsh sanctions on Russia but believe Biden needs to be tougher on the Kremlin after its invasion of Ukraine, according to a poll commissioned by the Associated Press and NORC released Thursday.
The poll, which surveyed 1,082 U.S. adults from Thursday to Monday, found 56% of Americans believe Biden’s response to Russia hasn’t been tough enough, including a majority of 53% of Democrats. A very small percent, about 6%, said they thought Biden had been “too tough,” the poll shows.
Across the board, Americans of both political parties were supportive of the harsh economic blows to Russia. The poll showed 68% were supportive of economic sanctions in general with 70% saying they supported the recent banning oil imported from Russia, which in turn caused gas prices to rise.
– Christal Hayes
Biden: China understands its economic future is ‘tied to the West’
President Joe Biden said he is “hopeful” that Chinese President Xi Jinping will not assist Russia in its war against Ukraine but declined to say whether he’s seen any indications that China will intervene.
“China understands that its economic future is much more closely tied to the west than it is to Russia,” Biden said. “And so I’m hopeful that he does not get engaged.”
Biden pointed to his virtual meeting last week with Xi in which the president said he “made it clear to him” him that he understand the consequences and would be “putting himself in significant jeopardy.”
Biden said he “made no threats,” to Xi but pointed out the number of American companies that have pulled out of Russia as a result of Putin’s “barbaric behavior.”
– Joey Garrison
Biden: US, NATO will ‘respond’ if Russia uses chemical weapons
President Joe Biden said the United States and NATO allies would “respond” to Russia if they used chemical weapons.
“We would respond, we would respond if he uses it,” Biden said during a press conference Thursday. “The nature of the responses depend on the nature of the use.”
Biden would not expand on whether the United States has gathered specific intelligence on if Russian President Vladimir Putin is using chemical weapons.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said Russian military forces committed war crimes in Ukraine after hitting civilian targets.
When asked whether there could be a military response if Putin uses chemical weapons, Biden said that NATO would decide as a whole if they would cross that line.
– Rebecca Morin
Biden says ‘sanctions never deter,’ defending US actions against Putin
President Joe Biden vigorously defended his administration’s use of sanctions on Russia, arguing the financial penalties were never meant to deter Putin from invading Ukraine but are designed to provide sustained pain.
“Sanctions never deter,” Biden said when pressed why U.S. sanctions have not stopped Putin’s course in Ukraine. “You keep talking about that.”
Biden said it’s the “maintenance of sanctions” and “increasing the pain” over the next year that will stop Russia.
“We have to demonstrate the purpose,” Biden said. “The single most important thing is for us to stay unified and for the world to continue to focus on what a brut this guy is.”
Biden noted that Putin was banking on NATO being split when he invaded Ukraine. Instead, “NATO has never, never been more united than it’s been today,” Biden declared Thursday after an emergency meeting of the allies in Brussels.
But Putin can take anything for another month, including the harsh sanctions, so the alliance must not crack, Biden added.
– Joey Garrison and Maureen Groppe
U.S. to accept 100K refugees, provide $1B in humanitarian assistance
The U.S. will accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and others fleeing Russia’s invasion and provide more than $1 billion in new humanitarian assistance, the White House announced Thursday.
The funding will pay for food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies and other forms of assistance.
Although many Ukrainian refugees prefer to remain in Europe where they will be closer to family and their homes, the Biden administration is working to expand and develop new programs with a focus on welcoming Ukrainians who have family members in the U.S.
Food shortages have been a major concern as both Russia and Ukraine are top producers of wheat. Biden discussed with other countries Thursday during a meeting in Brussels how to alleviate the issue, with both Canada and the U.S. – also top producers of the crop – discussing how production can be increased.
“It’s going to be real,” Biden said of food disruptions.
The nations also talked about the need to end trade restrictions on sending food abroad, Biden said.
They call themselves “elves” because they hunt trolls spreading Russian propaganda and disinformation on Facebook and counter Kremlin conspiracy theories with credible information gathered from allies on the ground in embattled parts of Ukraine.
Their ranks have swelled since the start of the war one month ago as more office workers, doctors, scientists, teachers and IT professionals enlist to stem the flood of pro-Russian falsehoods and conspiracy theories in news feeds.
Ričardas Savukynas, a management consultant from Vilnius, started the underground resistance movement in Lithuania in 2014 during the Ukrainian uprising on Kyiv’s Maidan Square and Russia’s annexation of the Crimea Peninsula.
“The idea is everybody can be an elf simply by fighting against propaganda, against lies,” Savukynas said. Read more here.
– Jessica Guynn
was killed while filming in Kyiv, making her at least the fourth journalist to die in the country during the war. Baulina was working as a correspondent for The Insider when Russian troops shelled a shopping center in the Podil district, a historic neighborhood in Kyiv, the site said in a statement. Another civilian was killed and two more people were wounded and hospitalized.
Baulina had fled Russia but had continued to report on corruption inside the Russian government.
“The Insider expresses its deepest condolences to Oksana’s family and friends,” the statement read.
– Asha C. Gilbert
Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY; The Associated Press