The United States called for the departure of its citizens from Russia in the face of growing economic and diplomatic isolation from Moscow due to the invasion of Ukraine, and after the increasingly aggressive rhetoric of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has put his nuclear forces on alert.
One day after the announcement of the powerful financial sanctions against Russia by the international community led by the United States and the European Union (EU), the rift with Moscow continues to widen as a result of the Russian military attack on Ukraine.
“US citizens should consider exiting Russia immediately through the commercial options still available,” the US embassy in Moscow said on Sunday.
The embassy published this message on its website “in the face of the increasing number of airlines that are canceling flights to and from Russia, and as numerous countries have closed their airspace to Russian airlines.”
He also warned that there are “multiple reports” that non-Russian credit and debit cards are being “declined”, something that “seems to be related” to the harsh economic sanctions announced this Saturday.
These include the exclusion of some Russian banks from the international financial system SWIFT and the restrictions on certain international operations of the Central Bank of Russia.
CONCERN ABOUT PUTIN’S NUCLEAR ALERT
Putin’s reaction was forceful and points to a dangerous escalation, explicitly mentioning nuclear weapons for the first time this Sunday.
In a meeting this Sunday with the Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoigu, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Valeri Gerasimov, Putin announced that he was putting the Russian strategic deterrent forces in “special service regime” after the ” aggressive declarations” of the main NATO countries.
The White House replied through Jen Psaki, the spokeswoman for President Joe Biden, who accused Putin of deepening his rhetorical escalation and unwarranted threats.
“This is really a pattern that we’ve seen from President Putin throughout this conflict, which is to fabricate threats that don’t exist to justify further aggression,” Psaki said in an interview on ABC.
Psaki remarked that “the global community and the American people should see it through this prism” since “at no time has Russia been under threat from NATO, or has Russia been under threat from Ukraine.”
Russia’s strategic deterrence forces are composed of nuclear forces, including intercontinental missiles, as well as non-nuclear forces, and missile defense, early warning system, and anti-aircraft defense.
URGENT SESSION OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The UN Security Council approved this Sunday a resolution to convene an urgent special session on Ukraine in the General Assembly, the body in which the 193 member states of the organization sit.
The initiative, promoted by the United States and Albania, went ahead with eleven votes in favor, three abstentions – China, India and the United Arab Emirates – and a single vote against, from Russia, which in this case did not have veto power It is a procedural decision.
The decision comes after Russia blocked a resolution in the Security Council on Friday that condemned its invasion and ordered the withdrawal of troops and seeks that the Assembly, where Moscow cannot veto decisions, approve over the next few days a like document.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused 368,000 people to flee that country, according to the latest data from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).