US, allies imposing additional economic costs on Russia, Belarus: Blinken

Washington [US], March 3 : US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday (local time) said the United States, in coordination with its allies and partners, is imposing additional economic costs on Russia and Belarus in response to military operations against Ukraine.
"We and our Allies and partners will work to keep people safe, manage the refugees, keep border crossings open, and provide critical supplies... We have now sanctioned most of Russia's financial institutions," Blinken said during the press briefing.
"In total 22 Russian defence-related entities will be designated, including companies that make combat aircraft, infantry fighting vehicles, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles electronic warfare systems. The very system is now being used to assault the Ukrainian people abusing human rights-violating international humanitarian law," Blinken said.
He continued by saying that "We are also posing export controls on Belarus to hold Lukashenko (Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus) regime accountable for being a co-belligerent in President Putin's war of choice."
"We will choke off Belarus's ability to import key technologies. And if Lukashenko's support for the war continues, the consequences for the regime will escalate," he added.
Highlighting that all told these sanctions and restrictions have had a powerful effect on Russia's economy, Blinken said "The value of the ruble has plummeted. The Russian stock market closed at a sphere of capital flight rose. Interest rates more than doubled. Russia's credit rating has been cut to junk status, the value of President Putin's war fund has vanished."
"Russian officials continue to deny it right until the invasion began. Seeing that duplicity, premeditated aggression, play out exactly, as we predicted, has generated outrage and solidarity across Europe and around the world," Blinken noted.
Talking about the US providing assistance to Ukraine, Blinken said, "Last week, President Joe Biden approved USD 350 million in military assistance to Ukraine to help with the armoured airborne and other significant threats it now faces. That brings our total security assistance to Ukraine in the past year, to more than USD 1 billion, more than in any previous year."
He continued saying that "We are sending humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine as well. Three days ago, we announced nearly USD 54 million in additional support on top of the more than USD 300 million that we provided in recent years."
Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine's breakaway regions - Donetsk and Luhansk - as independent entities.
Several countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia's military operations in Ukraine and imposed sanctions on Moscow.