US President Joe Biden announced tough new sanctions against Russian businesses over the attack on Ukraine, but acknowledged that there was no support in the EU to exclude Russia from SWIFT bank transfers, which are considered as crippling.

We have purposefully designed these sanctions to maximize a long-term impact on Russia and to minimize the impact on the United States and our allies, Biden said.

The sanctions will hit Russian banks and its ability to import sophisticated technology. Four banks that hold a trillion USD in total assets will be sanctioned and have their assets in the US frozen. A number of politicians and businessmen are also being sanctioned as are their family members. Biden said that sanctions against Putin himself are also on the table.

The US is also sending 4,000 troops to Poland and Germany, and is redeploying troops already in Europe to the Baltics.