Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday warned Russia that it will face “unprecedented economic costs” should it invade Ukraine.
Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference Ms. Harris echoed the stark warnings for the Kremlin the day after President Biden said he was “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the decision to invade neighboring Ukraine.
“Let me be clear, I can say with absolute certainty: If Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States, together with our allies and partners, will impose significant and unprecedented economic costs,” Harris said.
Tensions in Eastern Europe have reached a tipping point amid Russia’s troop buildup along Ukraine’s border.
For weeks the U.S. and its European allies have worked around the clock to find a diplomatic resolution with Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Russia intends to invade neighboring Ukraine and has claimed it has begun removing troops from the border.
But the U.S. says there has been no evidence that Russia intends to deescalate.
“Russia continues to say it is ready to talk while at the same time it narrows the avenues for diplomacy,” Harris said. “Their actions simply do not match their words.”
Ms. Harris lauded the European unity in opposition to Russia amid the standoff and said the crisis has served as a rare unifier in Washington.
“We didn’t all start out in the same place,” Ms. Harris said. “We came together and are now speaking with a unified voice. And that voice was a function of not only dialogue and debate, some concessions, but also the practical realization of the moment that we are in, which is that we are looking at a sovereign nation that may very well be on the verge of being invaded yet again.”
The administration has warned that the window for further diplomacy with Russia is narrowing.
The White House has committed to avoiding a direct clash between U.S. and Russian troops, though President Biden has committed to bolstering U.S. support to NATO.
Ms. Harris said Saturday that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to a bolstered U.S. presence on Russia’s doorstep.
“The imposition of these sweeping and coordinated measures will inflict great damage on those who must be held accountable. And we will not stop with economic measures,” Ms. Harris said. “We will further reinforce our NATO allies on the eastern flank.”
In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later Saturday, Ms. Harris called the current standoff “a decisive moment in our world’s history” and reiterated the Biden administration’s pledge to impose “swift and severe economic sanctions” in the event of an invasion.
“Any threats to your country, we take seriously, and we have rallied our Allies and our partners to speak with one voice,” Ms. Harris said.
Mr. Zelenskyy thanked Ms. Haris for “understanding that sanctions may bring about peaceful resolution of this matter.”
But fissures emerged during the conference between Ukraine and the U.S. on the administration’s sanctions policy.
In a later address during the conference, Mr. Zelenskyy pressed Ukrainian allies to sanction Russia immediately rather than waiting for an invasion.
“If you are telling me that it is 100% that the war will start in a couple of days, then what are you waiting for?” Mr. Zelenskyy said during a conversation with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour at the conference.
“We don’t need your sanctions after the bombardment will happen, and after our country will be fired at, or after we will have no borders,” he said. Why would we need those sanctions then?”