The administration of President Joe Biden is likely to ban Russian ships from entering American ports. This decision is believed to be symbolic — sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.
This move, which follows a similar ban in the U.K., is largely symbolic. According to port and shipping officials, Russian commercial ships account for less than 1% of cargo volumes to the U.S. Russian companies own large numbers of oil tankers, but they aren’t usually Russian-flagged.
This would be the latest round in sanctions against Russia that have been imposed after its invasion of Ukraine. The West has placed sanctions on almost all aspects of Russia’s economy, including its billionaire oligarchs.
Biden said that he was open to banning Russian oil imports and told reporters on the White House lawn, “Nothing is off-the-table.”
In the same exchange with the media, the president said it was too soon to say if Russian soldiers were involved in war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.
Russian officials claim that 498 troops died in Ukraine, while 1,597 were wounded. Ukraine claims that close to 7,000 invaders were killed.
