WASHINGTON DC, 26 January 2022, (TON): In the event of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States will immediately introduce the entire planned package of sanctions, their gradual expansion is a thing of the past.

This was announced to journalists on Tuesday by a senior US administration official.

He said “we are ready to impose sanctions that will have massive consequences and which we did not consider in 2014. This means that the principle of gradualism is a thing of the past. This time we will start at the very top of the escalation ladder and stay there.”

An administration official expressed the view that the Russian market is already reacting to the threat of sanctions.

He said “the accelerating sale of assets, the rise in the price of lending, the value of the ruble, the implied level of risk, all this reflects the scale of the economic consequences that will come to the Russian economy as a result of our actions in the event of an invasion.”

The administration official stressed that financial sanctions are being worked out in close coordination with European allies and have their full support.

A senior US administration official said “the US intends to introduce measures to limit high-tech exports to Russia in the event of its alleged invasion of Ukraine.”