WASHINGTON (Reuters), -The United States is set to announce on Tuesday the initial of a series of possible new export restrictions and sanctions against Russia. These are in response to Moscow’s declaration of independence for two regions within Ukraine.

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin told Russia’s defence ministry that he would deploy troops in the regions to maintain peace. This defied Western warnings and was a violation of international law.

The United States has promised severe sanctions against Russia in the event it invades Ukraine, which the White House has previously defined https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/biden-white-house-seek-define-ukraine-invasion-amid-confusion-2022-01-20 as “any movement of troops across the border.”

The White House announced that U.S. President Joe Biden will give remarks on Tuesday at 1 pm (1800 GMT). This is to update the public on Russia and Ukraine.

Reuters couldn’t determine the exact nature of any sanctions or export control announcements, however, the Biden administration prepared an initial package, according to people who were familiar with the situation. This includes a ban on U.S. financial institutions processing Russian bank transactions, sources said.

A senior official in the administration said Monday that Russia sending troops to Ukraine’s breakaway areas was not an invasion. Russia already had troops there. However, Jonathan Finer (deputy national security adviser) said Tuesday that the invasion was underway.

Finer stated on CNN that “we believe this to be the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest attack against Ukraine.” Finer said on CNN that it was an invasion for the third and fourth times. “We are taking a serious response,” he stated. He also said sanctions would be imposed on Russia in the next few hours.

Finer stated that the United States envisaged multiple levels of sanctions, based on Russia’s actions.

Finer stated that “These will be our harsh sanctions and quick response to any Russian invasion.” He also said that additional sanctions would be imposed by the United States if Russia moves forward.

This has always been our strategy. “We had in our minds waves of sanctions against Russia that would be applied if it continued to move down the path toward war. Which we think they have.”

This measure is designed to damage the Russian economy. It cuts the “correspondent bank” relationships between selected Russian banks and U.S. banking institutions that facilitate international payments.

According to the same sources, placing certain Russian companies and people on the Specially Designated Nationals List could be the United States’ most potent sanctioning tool. This would effectively kick them out the U.S. banking systems, ban them from dealing with Americans, and freeze their U.S. assets.

Biden has stated it intends to shield everyday Russians from U.S. sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine. Instead, the administration will focus its efforts on targeting specific industrial sectors. In a speech made in Massachusetts, Peter Harrell, White House national security officer said that “key persons” would still face severe sanctions.

The package could include export control measures, but they would not likely have the same immediate impact and “degrade Russia’s ability to produce industrial goods in some key sectors.”

The United States could expand the reach of the Foreign Direct Product Rule to Russia in a manner that mirrors Trump’s move against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies. This would allow them to stop the shipments of chips and computers to any country if the items were made using U.S. technology.

Harrell was unable to specify the sectors but White House officials spoke of aviation, robotics, AI, quantum computing, and defense.