Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Wednesday, February 23rd. I'm Nailibutu. Here's

what you need to know today. The Ukraine crisis rocks energy markets. Plus, two years after

a mod Arbery's murder, how Georgia has changed. But first, today's one big thing. Biden

hits Putin with sanctions and a warning.

So today, I'm announcing the first trance of sanctions to impose cost on Russia and

respond to their actions yesterday. These have been closely coordinated with our allies

and partners and will continue to escalate sanctions of Russia escalates.

That's President Joe Biden yesterday speaking from the White House. He called this moment

quote, the beginning of a Russian invasion, quote, of Ukraine. Axios's Zach Basu is here

to explain the scope of these new sanctions and want to watch for next. Hi, Zach. Hey.

So when Biden says the first trance of sanctions against Moscow, what does that actually

look like?

So the sanctions announcement can really be broken down into three parts. The first is

what's called full blocking sanctions against two large Russian financial institutions, known

as VEB and PSB together. They hold about $80 billion in assets and provide financing for

the Kremlin and the Russian military. So their assets in the US and Europe will be frozen

and they will effectively lose access to the global financial system. The second part

of the sanctions includes new restrictions on Russian sovereign debt. So the Kremlin will

no longer be able to raise money from the US and Europe. And third, the US is sanctioning

five Russian elites and members of their family.

And the US had locking some Russians out of the global financial system. That tracks

then with European countries also announcing other sanctions yesterday.

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